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diff --git a/41030.txt b/41030.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5fce5bf..0000000 --- a/41030.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3862 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Historic Highways of America (Vol. 12), by -Archer Butler Hulbert - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Historic Highways of America (Vol. 12) - Pioneer Roads and Experiences of Travelers (Volume II) - -Author: Archer Butler Hulbert - -Release Date: October 11, 2012 [EBook #41030] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA, VOL 12 *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - - - - - - - - -HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA - -VOLUME 12 - - - - - HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA - VOLUME 12 - - Pioneer Roads and - Experiences of Travelers - (Volume II) - - BY - ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT - - _With Maps_ - - [Illustration] - - THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY - CLEVELAND, OHIO - 1904 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1904 - BY - THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - PREFACE 9 - I. THE OLD NORTHWESTERN TURNPIKE 13 - II. A JOURNEY IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA 43 - III. A PILGRIM ON BRADDOCK'S ROAD 64 - IV. THE GENESEE ROAD 95 - V. A TRAVELER ON THE GENESEE ROAD 117 - VI. THE CATSKILL TURNPIKE 143 - VII. WITH DICKENS ALONG PIONEER ROADS 164 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - I. PART OF A "MAP OF THE ROUTE BETWEEN ALBANY AND OSWEGO" - (drawn about 1756; from original in British Museum) 97 - - II. PART OF A "MAP OF THE GRAND PASS FROM NEW YORK TO - MONTREAL ... BY THOMAS POWNALL" (drawn about 1756; - from original in the British Museum) 113 - - III. WESTERN NEW YORK IN 1809 123 - - - - -PREFACE - - -This volume is devoted to two great lines of pioneer movement, one -through northern Virginia and the other through central New York. In the -former case the Old Northwestern Turnpike is the key to the situation, -and in the latter the famous Genesee Road, running westward from Utica, -was of momentous importance. - -A chapter is given to the Northwestern Turnpike, showing the movement -which demanded a highway, and the legislative history which created it. -Then follow two chapters of travelers' experiences in the region -covered. One of these is given to the _Journal of Thomas Wallcutt_ -(1790) through northern Virginia and central Pennsylvania. Another -chapter presents no less vivid descriptions from quite unknown travelers -on the Virginian roads. - -The Genesee Road is presented in chapter four as a legislative -creation; the whole history of this famous avenue would be practically a -history of central New York. To give the more vivid impression of -personal experience a chapter is devoted to a portion of Thomas -Bigelow's _Tour to Niagara Falls 1805_ over the Genesee Road in its -earliest years, when the beautiful cities which now lie like a string of -precious gems across this route were just springing into existence. For -a chapter on the important "Catskill Turnpike," which gives much -information of road-building in central New York, we are indebted to -Francis Whiting Halsey's _The Old New York Frontier_. - -The final chapter of the volume includes a number of selections from the -spicy, brilliant descriptions of pioneer traveling in America which -Dickens left in his _American Notes_, and a few pages describing an -early journey on Indian trails in Missouri from Charles Augustus -Murray's _Travels in North America_. - - A. B. H. - -MARIETTA, OHIO, January 26, 1904. - - - - -Pioneer Roads and Experiences of Travelers - -(Volume II) - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE OLD NORTHWESTERN TURNPIKE - - -We have treated of three historic highways in this series of monographs -which found a way through the Appalachian uplift into the Mississippi -Basin--Braddock's, Forbes's, and Boone's roads and their successors. -There were other means of access into that region. One, of which -particular mention is to be made in this volume, dodged the mountains -and ran around to the lakes by way of the Mohawk River and the Genesee -country. Various minor routes passed westward from the heads of the -Susquehanna--one of them becoming famous as a railway route, but none -becoming celebrated as roadways. From central and southern Virginia, -routes, likewise to be followed by trunk railway lines, led onward -toward the Mississippi Basin, but none, save only Boone's track, became -of prime importance. - -But while scanning carefully this mountain barrier, which for so long a -period held back civilization on the Atlantic seaboard, there is found -another route that was historic and deserves mention as influencing the -westward movement of America. It was that roadway so well known -three-fourths of a century ago as the Old Northwestern Turnpike, leading -from Winchester, Virginia, to the Ohio River at Parkersburg, Virginia, -now West Virginia, at the mouth of the Little Kanawha. - -The earliest history of this route is of far more interest than -importance, for the subject takes us back once more to Washington's -early exploits and we feel again the fever of his wide dreams of -internal communications which should make the Virginia waterways the -inlet and outlet of all the trade of the rising West. It has been -elsewhere outlined how the Cumberland Road was the actual resultant of -Washington's hopes and plans. But it is in place in a sketch of the Old -Northwestern Turnpike to state that Washington's actual plan of making -the Potomac River all that the Erie Canal and the Cumberland Road -became was never even faintly realized. His great object was -attained--but not by means of his partisan plans. - -It is very difficult to catch the exact old-time spirit of rivalry which -existed among the American colonies and which always meant jealousy and -sometimes bloodshed. In the fight between Virginia officers in Forbes's -army in 1758 over the building of a new road through Pennsylvania to -Fort Duquesne, instead of following Braddock's old road, is an historic -example of this intense rivalry. A noted example, more easily explained, -was the conflict and perennial quarrel between the Connecticut and -Pennsylvania pioneers within the western extremity of the former -colony's technical boundaries. That Washington was a Virginian is made -very plain in a thousand instances in his life; and many times it is -emphasized in such a way as must seem odd to all modern Americans. At a -stroke of a pen he shows himself to be the broadest of Americans in his -classic Letter to Benjamin Harrison, 1784; in the next sentence he is -urging Virginia to look well to her laurels lest New York, through the -Hudson and Mohawk, and Pennsylvania, through the Susquehanna and -Juniata, do what Virginia ought to do through her Potomac. - -The powerful appeal made in this letter was the result of a journey of -Washington's in the West which has not received all the attention from -historians it perhaps deserves. This was a tour made in 1784 in the -tangled mountainous region between the heads of the branches of the -Potomac and those of the Monongahela.[1] Starting on his journey -September 1, Washington intended visiting his western lands and -returning home by way of the Great Kanawha and New Rivers, in order to -view the connection which could be made there between the James and -Great Kanawha Valleys. Indian hostilities, however, made it unwise for -him to proceed even to the Great Kanawha, and the month was spent in -northwestern Virginia. - -On the second, Washington reached Leesburg, and on the third, Berkeley; -here, at his brother's (Colonel Charles Washington's) he met a number -of persons including General Morgan. "... one object of my journey -being," his _Journal_ reads, "to obtain information of the nearest and -best communication between the Eastern & Western Waters; & to facilitate -as much as in me lay the Inland Navigation of the Potomack; I conversed -a good deal with Gen^l. Morgan on this subject, who said, a plan was in -contemplation to extend a Road from Winchester to the Western Waters, to -avoid if possible an interference with any other State." It is to be -observed that this was a polite way of saying that the road in -contemplation must be wholly in Virginia, which was the only state to be -"interfered" with or be benefited. "But I could not discover," -Washington adds, "that Either himself, or others, were able to point it -out with precision. He [Morgan] seemed to have no doubt but that the -Counties of Freder^k., Berkeley & Hampshire would contribute freely -towards the extension of the Navigation of Potomack; as well as towards -opening a Road from East to West." - -It should be observed that the only route across the mountains from -northwestern Virginia to the Ohio River was Braddock's Road; for this -road Washington was a champion in 1758, as against the central route -Forbes built straight west from Bedford to Fort Duquesne.[2] Then, -however, Braddock's Road, and even Fort Duquesne, was supposed to lie in -Virginia. But when the Pennsylvania boundaries were fully outlined it -was found that Braddock's Road lay in Pennsylvania. Washington now was -seeking a new route to the West which would lie wholly in Virginia. The -problem, historically, presents several interesting points which cannot -be expanded here. Suffice it to say that Washington was the valiant -champion of Braddock's Road until he found it lay wholly in Maryland and -Pennsylvania. - -Gaining no satisfaction from his friends at Berkeley, Washington pushed -on to one Captain Stroad's, out fourteen odd miles on the road to Bath. -"I held much conversation with him," the traveler records of his visit -at Stroad's, "the result ... was,--that there are two Glades which go -under the denomination of the Great glades--one, on the Waters of -Yohiogany, the other on those of Cheat River; & distinguished by the -name of the Sandy Creek Glades.--that the Road to the first goes by the -head of Patterson's Creek[3]--that from the acc^{ts}. he has had of it, -it is rough; the distance he knows not.--that there is a way to the -Sandy Creek Glades from the great crossing of Yohiogany (or Braddocks -Road) [Smithfield, Pennsylvania] & a very good one; ..." At the town of -Bath Washington met one Colonel Bruce who had traversed the country -between the North Branch (as that tributary of the Potomac was widely -known) and the Monongahela. "From Col^o. Bruce ... I was informed that -he had travelled from the North Branch of Potomack to the Waters of -Yaughiogany, and Monongahela--that the Potom^k. where it may be made -Navigable--for instance where McCulloughs path crosses it, 40 Miles -above the old fort [Cumberland], is but about 6 Miles to a pretty large -branch of the Yohiogany ...--that the Waters of Sandy Creek which is a -branch of cheat River, which is a branch of Monongahela, interlocks with -these; and the Country between, flat--that he thinks (in order to ev^d. -[evade] passing through the State of Pennsylvania) this would be an -eligible Road using the ten Miles C^k. with a portage to the Navigable -Waters of the little Kanhawa; ..." - -This was the basis of Washington's plan of internal communication from -Potomac; he now pressed forward to find if it were possible to connect -the Youghiogheny and North Branch of the Potomac, the Youghiogheny and -Monongahela, and the Monongahela and Little Kanawha. Of course the plan -was impossible, but the patient man floundered on through the foothills -and mountains over what was approximately the course mentioned, the -"McCullough's Path" and Sandy Creek route from the Potomac to the -Monongahela. In his explorations he found and traversed one of the -earliest routes westward through this broken country immediately south -of the well known resorts, Oakland and Deer Park, on the Baltimore and -Ohio Railway. This was the "McCullough's" Path already mentioned. Having -ascended the Monongahela River from near Brownsville, Pennsylvania, -Washington, on September 24, arrived at a surveyor's office (the home of -one Pierpoint) eight miles southward along the dividing ridge between -the Monongahela and Cheat Rivers.[4] On the twenty-fifth--after a -meeting with various inhabitants of the vicinity--he went plunging -eastward toward the North Branch of the Potomac "along the New Road -[which intersected Braddock's Road east of Winding Ridge] to Sandy -Creek; & thence by McCullochs path to Logstons [on the North Branch of -the Potomac] and accordingly set of [off] before Sunrise. Within 3 Miles -I came to the river Cheat ab^t. 7 Miles from its Mouth--.... The Road -from Morgan Town or Monongahela C^t. House, is said to be good to this -ferry [Ice's]--distance ab^{t}. 6 Miles[5] ... from the ferry the -Laurel Hill[6] is assended ... along the top of it the Road -continues.... After crossing this hill the road is very good to the ford -of Sandy Creek at one James Spurgeons,[7] ... ab^t. 15 Miles from Ice's -ferry. At the crossing of this Creek McCullocks path, which owes its -origen to Buffaloes, being no other than their tracks from one lick to -another & consequently crooked & not well chosen, strikes off from the -New Road.... From Spurgeon's to one Lemons, which is a little to the -right of McCullochs path, is reckoned 9 Miles, and the way not bad; but -from Lemons to the entrance of the Yohiogany glades[8] which is -estimated 9 Miles more thro' a deep rich Soil ... and what is called the -briery Mountain.[9] ... At the entrance of the above glades I lodged -this night, with no other shelter or cover than my cloak. & was unlucky -enough to have a heavy shower of Rain.... 26^{th}.... passing along a -small path ... loaded with Water ... we had an uncomfortable travel to -one Charles friends[10] about 10 Miles.... A Mile before I came to -Friends, I crossed the great Branch of Yohiogany.... Friend ... is a -great Hunter.... From Friends I passed by a spring (distant 3 Miles) -called Archy's from a Man of that name--crossed the backbone[11] & -descended into Ryans glade.[12]--Thence by Tho^s. Logston's ... to the -foot of the backbone, about 5 Miles ... across the Ridge to Ryans glade -one mile and half ...--to Joseph Logstons 1-1/2 Miles ...--to the N^o. -Branch at McCullochs path 2 Miles[13]--infamous road--and to Tho^s. -Logstons 4 more.... 27th. I left M^r. Logston's ...--at ten Miles I -had ... gained the summit of the Alligany Mountain[14] and began to -desend it where it is very steep and bad to the Waters of Pattersons -Creek ... along the heads of these [tributaries], & crossing the Main -[Patterson's] Creek & Mountain bearing the same name[15] (on the top of -which at one Snails I dined) I came to Col^o. Abrah^m. Hites at Fort -pleasant on the South Branch[16] about 35 Miles from Logstons a little -before the Suns setting. My intention, when I set out from Logstons, was -to take the Road to Rumney [Romney] by one Parkers but learning from my -guide (Joseph Logston) when I came to the parting paths at the foot of -the Alligany[17] (ab^t. 12 Miles) that it was very little further to go -by Fort pleasant, I resolved to take that Rout ... to get -information...." - -This extract from Washington's journal gives us the most complete -information obtainable of a region of country concerning which it is -difficult to secure even present-day information. The drift of the -pioneer tide had been on north and south lines here; the first-comers -into these mountains wandered up the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers -and their tributaries. Even as early as the Old French War a few bold -companies of men had sifted into the dark valleys of the Cheat and -Youghiogheny.[18] That it was a difficult country to reach is proved by -the fact that certain early adventurers in this region were deserters -from Fort Pitt. They were safe here! A similar movement up the two -branches of the Potomac had created a number of settlements there--far -up where the waters ran clear and swift amid the mountain fogs. But -there had been less communication on east and west lines. It is easy to -assume that McCulloch's path was the most important route across the -ragged ridges, from one glade and valley to another. It is entirely -probable that the New Road, to which Washington refers, was built for -some distance on the buffalo trace which (though the earlier route) -branched from the New Road. An old path ran eastward from Dunkard's -Bottom of which Washington says: "... being ... discouraged ... from -attempting to return [to the Potomac] by the way of Dunkars Bottom, as -the path it is said is very blind & exceedingly grown up with briers, I -resolved to try the other Rout, along the New Road ..." as quoted on -page 21. The growth of such towns as Cumberland and Morgantown had made -a demand for more northerly routes. The whole road-building idea in -these parts in the last quarter of the eighteenth century was to connect -the towns that were then springing into existence, especially Morgantown -and Clarksburg with Cumberland. Washington's dream of a connected -waterway was, of course, hopelessly chimerical, and after him no one -pushed the subject of a highway of any kind between the East and the -West through Virginia. Washington's own plans materialized in the -Potomac Navigation Company, and his highway, that should be a strong -link in the chain of Federal Union between the improved Potomac and the -Ohio, became the Cumberland Road; and it ran just where he did not care -to see it--through Maryland and Pennsylvania. Yet it accomplished his -first high purpose of welding the Union together, and was a fruit of -that patriotic letter to Governor Harrison written a few days after -Washington pushed his way through the wet paths of the Cheat and -Youghiogheny Valleys in 1784. - -These first routes across the mountains south of the Cumberland Road--in -Virginia--were, as noted, largely those of wild beasts. "It has been -observed before," wrote Washington in recapitulation, "to what -fortuitous circumstances the paths of this Country owe their being, & -how much the ways may be better chosen by a proper investigation of -it; ..." In many instances the new roads built hereabouts in later days -were shorter than the earlier courses; however it remains true here, as -elsewhere, that the strategic geographical positions were found by the -buffalo and Indian, and white men have followed them there unwaveringly -with turnpike and railway. - -When Washington crossed the North Branch of the Potomac on the 26th of -October, 1784 at "McCullochs crossing," he was on the track of what -should be, a generation later, the Virginian highway across the -Appalachian system into the Ohio Basin. Oddly enough Virginia had done -everything, it may truthfully be said, toward building Braddock's Road -to the Ohio in 1755, and, in 1758, had done as much as any colony toward -building Forbes's Road. All told, Virginia had accomplished more in the -way of road-building into the old Central West by 1760 than all other -colonies put together. Yet, as it turned out, not one inch of either of -these great thoroughfares lay in Virginia territory when independence -was secured and the individual states began their struggle for existence -in those "critical" after-hours. These buffalo paths through her western -mountains were her only routes; they coursed through what was largely -an uninhabited region, and which remains such today. Yet it was -inevitable that a way should be hewn here through Virginia to the Ohio; -the call from the West, the hosts of pioneers, the need of a state way -of communication, all these and more, made it sure that a Virginia -Turnpike should cross the mountains. - -Before that day arrived the Cumberland Road was proposed, built, and -completed, not only to the Ohio River, but almost to the western -boundary of the state of Ohio; its famous successor of another -generation, the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, was undertaken in 1825. -These movements stirred northern Virginians to action and on the -twenty-seventh of February, 1827, the General Assembly passed an act "to -incorporate the North-western Road Company." - -Sections 1, 3, 4, and 5 of this Act are as follows: - -"1. _Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia_, That books -shall be opened at the town of Winchester, in Frederick county, under -the direction of Josiah Lockhart, William Wood, George S. Lane, Abraham -Miller, and Charles Brent, or any two of them; at Romney, in Hampshire -county, under the direction of William Naylor, William Donaldson, John -M'Dowell, Robert Sherrard, and Thomas Slane, or any two of them; at -Moorfield, in Hardy county, under the direction of Isaac Van Meter, -Daniel M'Neil, Benjamin Fawcett, Samuel M'Machen, and John G. Harness, -or any two of them; at Beverly, in Randolph county, under the direction -of Eli Butcher, Squire Bosworth, Jonas Crane, Andrew Crawford, and -William Cooper, or any two of them; at Kingwood, in Preston county, -under the direction of William Sigler, William Johnson, William Price, -Charles Byrne, and Thomas Brown, or any two of them; at Pruntytown, in -Harrison county, under the direction of Abraham Smith, Frederick -Burdett, Thomas Gethrop, Cornelius Reynolds, and Stephen Neill, or any -two of them; at Clarksburg, in Harrison county, under the direction of -John L. Sehon, John Sommerville, John Webster, Jacob Stealy, and Phineas -Chapin, or any two of them; and at Parkersburg, in Wood county, under -the direction of Jonas Beason, Joseph Tomlinson, Tillinghast Cook, -James H. Neal, and Abraham Samuels, or any two of them, for purpose of -receiving subscriptions to a capital stock of seventy-five thousand -dollars, in shares of twenty dollars, to be appropriated to the making -of a road from Winchester to some proper place on the Ohio river, -between the mouths of Muskingum, and Little Kanawha rivers, according to -the provisions of this act.... - -"3. The proceedings of the first general meeting of the stockholders, -shall be preserved with subsequent proceedings of the company, all of -which shall be entered of record in well bound books to be kept for that -purpose: And from and after the first appointment of directors, the said -responsible subscribers, their heirs and assigns, shall be, and they are -hereby declared to be, a body politic and corporate, by the name of 'The -North western Road Company;' ... - -"4. It shall be the duty of the Principal Engineer of the State, as soon -as existing engagements will permit, to prescribe such plans or schemes -for making the whole road, or the several parts or sections thereof, as -he shall think best calculated to further its most proper and speedy -completion, and to locate and graduate the same, or part or parts -thereof, from time to time, make estimates of the probable cost of -making each five miles, (or any shorter sections,) so located and -graduated, and to make report thereof to the Board of Public Works at -such time or times as shall be convenient. - -"5. The said president and directors shall, from time to time, make all -contracts necessary for the completion of the said road, and shall -require from subscribers equal advances and payments on their shares, -and they shall have power to compel payments by the sale of delinquent -shares, in such a manner as shall be prescribed by their by-laws, and -transfer the same to purchasers: _Provided_, That if any subscriber -shall at any time be a contractor for making any part of the said road, -or in any other manner become a creditor of the company, he shall be -entitled to a proper set-off in the payment of his stock, or any -requisition made thereon...."[19] - -A mistake which doomed these plans to failure was in arbitrarily -outlining a road by way of the important towns without due consideration -of the nature of the country between them. The mountains were not to be -thus mocked; even the buffalo had not found an east and west path here -easily. As noted, the towns where subscriptions were opened were -Winchester, Romney, Moorefield, Beverly, Kingwood, Pruntytown, -Clarksburg, and Parkersburg. When the engineers got through Hampshire -County by way of Mill Creek Gap in Mill Creek Mountain and on into -Preston County, insurmountable obstacles were encountered and it was -reported that the road would never reach Kingwood. From that moment the -North-western Road Company stock began to languish; only the -intervention of the state saved the enterprise. However, in 1831, a new -and very remarkable act was passed by the Virginia Assembly organizing a -road company that stands unique in a road-building age. This was "An act -to provide for the construction of a turnpike road from Winchester to -some point on the Ohio river." The governor was made president of the -company and he with the treasurer, attorney-general, and second auditor -constituted the board of directors. The 1st, 2d, and 4th sections of -this interesting law are as follows: - -"1. _Be it enacted by the general assembly_, That the governor, -treasurer, attorney general, and second auditor of the commonwealth for -the time being, and their successors, are hereby constituted a body -politic and corporate, under the denomination of 'The President and -Directors of the North-Western Turnpike Road,' with power to sue and be -sued, plead and be impleaded, and to hold lands and tenements, goods and -chattels, and the same to sell, dispose of, or improve, in trust for the -commonwealth, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned. And three of the -said commissioners shall constitute a board for the transaction of -such business as is hereby entrusted to them; of which board, when -present, the governor shall be president: And they shall have power to -appoint a clerk from without their own body, and make such distribution -of their duties among themselves respectively, and such rules and -regulations ... as to them may seem necessary.... - -"2. _Be it further enacted_, That the said president and directors of -the North-Western turnpike road be, and they are hereby empowered as -soon as may be necessary for the purposes herein declared, to borrow on -the credit of the state, a sum or sums of money not exceeding one -hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and at a rate of interest not -exceeding six per centum per annum.... - -"4. _Be it further enacted_, That the said president and directors, out -of the money hereby authorized to be borrowed, shall cause to be -constructed a road from the town of Winchester, in the county of -Frederick, to some point on the Ohio river, to be selected by the -principal engineer. And for the purpose aforesaid, the principal -engineer, as soon as may be after the passage of this act, shall proceed -to lay out and locate the said road from the points above designated. He -shall graduate the said road in such manner that the acclivity or -declivity thereof shall in no case exceed five degrees. The width of the -said road may be varied, so that it shall not exceed eighteen feet, nor -be less than twelve feet. Through level ground it shall be raised in the -middle one-twenty-fourth part of its breadth, but in passing along -declivities it may be flat. Bridges, side ditches, gutters, and an -artificial bed of stone or gravel, shall be dispensed with, except in -such instances as the said principal engineer may deem them -necessary...."[20] - -Other sections stipulated that the state had the right to survey any and -all routes the engineers desired to examine, and that persons suffering -by loss of land or otherwise could, if proper application was made -within one year, secure justice in the superior or county courts; that -the company appoint a superintendent who should have in charge the -letting of contracts after such were approved by the company; that, as -each stretch of twenty miles was completed, toll gates could be erected -thereon, where usual tolls could be collected by the company's agents, -the total sum collected to be paid into the state treasury; that the -company had the right to erect bridges, or in case a ferry was in -operation, to make the ferryman keep his banks and boats in good -condition; that the company make annual reports to the State Board of -Public Works; and that the road be forever a public highway. - -The roadway was now soon built. Not dependent upon the stock that might -be taken in the larger towns, the road made peace with the mountains and -was built through the southern part of Preston County in 1832, leaving -Kingwood some miles to the north. Evansville was located in 1833, and -owes its rise to the great road. The route of the road is through -Hampshire, Mineral, Grant, Garrett, Preston, Taylor, Harrison, -Doddridge, Ritchie, and Wood Counties, all West Virginia save Garrett -which is in Maryland. Important as the route became to the rough, -beautiful country which it crossed, it never became of national -importance. Being started so late in the century, the Baltimore and Ohio -Railway, which was completed to Cumberland in 1845, stopped in large -part the busy scenes of the Old Northwestern Turnpike. - -Yet to the historic inquirer the old turnpike, so long forgotten by the -outside world, lies where it was built; and can fairly be said to be a -monument of the last of those stirring days when Virginia planned to -hold the West in fee. Hundreds of residents along this road recall the -old days with intense delight. True, the vast amount of money spent on -the Cumberland Road was not spent on its less renowned rival to the -south, but the Cumberland Road was given over to the states through -which it ran; and, in many instances, was so neglected that it was as -poor a road as some of its less pretentious rivals. A great deal of -business of a national character was done on the Northwestern Turnpike. -Parkersburg became one of the important entrepots in the Ohio Valley; as -early as 1796, we shall soon see, a pioneer traversing the country -through which the Northwestern Turnpike's predecessor coursed, speaks of -an awakening in the Monongahela Valley that cannot be considered less -than marvelous. Taking it through the years, few roads have remained of -such constant benefit to the territory into which they ran, and today -you will be told that no railway has benefited that mountainous district -so much as this great thoroughfare. - -But in a larger sense than any merely local one, Virginia counted on the -Northwestern Turnpike to bind the state and connect its eastern -metropolis with the great Ohio Valley. Virginia had given up, on demand, -her great county of Kentucky when the wisdom of that movement was plain; -at the call of the Nation, she had surrendered the title her soldiers -had given her to Illinois and the beautifully fertile Scioto Valley in -Ohio. But after these great cessions she did not lose the rich -Monongahela country. It had been explored by her adventurers, settled by -her pioneers--and Virginia held dear to her heart her possessions along -the upper Ohio. In the days when the Northwestern Turnpike was created -by legislative act, canals were not an assured success, and railways -were only being dreamed of. And the promoters of canals and railways -were considered insane when they hinted that the mountains could be -conquered by these means of transportation. With all the vast need for -improvements, the genius of mankind had never created anything better -than the road and the cart; what hope was there that now suddenly -America should surprise the world by overthrowing the axioms of the -centuries past? - -And so, in the correct historical analysis, the Northwestern Turnpike -must be considered Virginia's attempt to compete successfully with -Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York, in securing for herself a -commanding portion of the trade of the West. In all the legislative -history of the origin of the Northwestern Turnpike, it is continually -clear that its origin was of more than local character. It was actually -the last roadway built from the seaboard to the West in the hope of -securing commercial superiority; and its decline and decay marks the end -of pioneer road-building across the first great American "divide." In a -moment the completion of the Erie Canal assured the nation that freight -could be transported for long distances at one-tenth the cost that had -prevailed on the old land highways. Soon after, the completion of the -Pennsylvania Canal proved that the canal could successfully mount great -heights--and Virginia forgot her roads in her interest in canals. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -A JOURNEY IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA - - -Thomas Wallcutt of Massachusetts served through the Revolutionary War as -hospital steward and received in payment therefor one share in the Ohio -Company.[21] He went out to Marietta in 1790, and returned eastward by -the half-known Virginia route. His _Journal_[22] forms an interesting -chapter of travel on American pioneer roads: - -"Monday, 8 March, 1790.[23] Pleasant, clear, cold, and high winds. We -were up before sunrise, and got some hot breakfast, coffee and toast; -and Captain Prince, Mr. Moody, Mr. Skinner, Captain Mills and brother, -Mr. Bent, &c., accompanied us over the river[24] to Sargent's or -Williams's, and took leave of us about nine o'clock, and we proceeded on -our journey. We had gone but a little way when we found the path[25] so -blind that we could not proceed with certainty, and I was obliged to go -back and get a young man to come and show us the way. When we had got -back to our companions again, they had found the road, and we walked -twenty miles this day. Weather raw, chilly, and a little snow. The -country after about five or six miles from the Ohio is very broken and -uneven, with high and sharp hills. - -"Tuesday, 9 March, 1790. The weather for the most part of the day -pleasant, but cold winds, northerly. The country very rough, the hills -high and sharp.[26] One third of the road must go over and on the -ridges, and another third through the valleys. We walked this day about -twenty-three or twenty-four miles, and slept near the forty-fourth or -forty-fifth mile tree. - -"Wednesday, 10 March, 1790. Weather raw and moist. To-day we crossed -several of the large creeks and waters that fall into the Ohio. This -occasioned a loss of much time, waiting for the horse to come over for -each one, which he did as regularly as a man would. The country much the -same, but rather better to-day, except that a great deal of the road -runs along through the streams, and down the streams such a length with -the many bridges that will be wanted, that it will be a vast expense, -besides the risk and damage of being carried away every year by the -floods. We had so much trouble in crossing these streams that at last we -forded on foot. One of the largest in particular, after we had rode it -several times, we waded it four or five times almost knee-deep, and -after that a number of times on logs, or otherwise, without going in -water. Two of the streams, I doubt not, we crossed as often as twenty -times each. We walked this day about fifteen miles. - -"Thursday, 11 March, 1790. With much fatigue and pain in my left leg, we -walked about fifteen miles to-day. They all walked better than I, and -had got to Carpenter's and had done their dinner about two o'clock when -I arrived. They appear to be good farmers and good livers, have a good -house, and seem very clever people. Mr. C. is gone down the country. -They have been a frontier here for fifteen years, and have several times -been obliged to move away. I got a dish of coffee and meat for dinner, -and paid ninepence each, for the doctor and me. We set off, and crossed -the west branch of the Monongahela over to Clarksburgh. The doctor paid -his own ferriage. We went to Major Robinson's, and had tea and meat, -&c., for supper. I paid ninepence each, for the doctor and me. Weather -dull and unpleasant, as yesterday. - -"Friday, 12 March, 1790. Weather good and pleasant to-day. We set off -before sunrise and got a little out of our road into the Morgantown -road, but soon got right again. We breakfasted at Webb's mill, a good -house and clever folks. Had coffee, meat, &c.; paid sixpence each, for -me and the doctor. Lodged at Wickware's, who says he is a Yankee, but -is a very disagreeable man for any country, rough and ugly, and he is -very dear. I paid one shilling apiece for the doctor's and my supper, -upon some tea made of mountain birch, perhaps black birch, stewed -pumpkin, and sodden meat. Appetite supplies all deficiencies. - -"Saturday, 13 March, 1790. Beautiful weather all day. Set off not so -early this morning as yesterday. The doctor paid his ferriage himself. -Mr. Moore, a traveller toward his home in Dunker's Bottom, Fayette -County, Pennsylvania, [?] set out with us. He seems a very mild, -good-natured, obliging old gentleman, and lent me his horse to ride -about two miles, while he drove his pair of steers on foot. The doctor -and I being both excessively fatigued, he with a pain in his knee, and -mine in my left leg, but shifting about, were unable to keep up with our -company, and fell much behind them. Met Mr. Carpenter on his return -home. He appears to be a very clever man. When we had come to Field's, I -found Mr. Dodge had left his horse for us to ride, and to help us along, -which we could not have done without. We got a dish of tea without -milk, some dried smoked meat and hominy for dinner; and from about three -o'clock to nine at night, got to Ramsay's. Seven miles of our way were -through a new blazed path where they propose to cut a new road. We got -out of this in good season, at sundown or before dark, into the wagon -road, and forded Cheat River on our horses. Tea, meat, &c., for supper. -Old Simpson and Horton, a constable, had a terrible scuffle here this -evening. - -"Lord's Day, 14 March, 1790. Mr. Dodge is hurrying to go away again. I -tell him I must rest to-day. I have not written anything worth mention -in my journal since I set out, until to-day, and so must do it from -memory. I want to shave a beard seven days old, and change a shirt about -a fortnight dirty; and my fatigue makes rest absolutely necessary. So -take my rest this day, whether he has a mind to go or stay with us. Eat -very hearty of hominy or boiled corn with milk for breakfast, and boiled -smoked beef and pork for dinner, with turnips. After dinner shaved and -shirted me, which took till near night, it being a dark house, without a -bit of window, as indeed there is scarce a house on this road that has -any. - -"Monday, 15 March, 1790. Waited and got some tea for breakfast, before -we set out. Settled with Ramsay, and paid him 9_d._ per meal, for five -meals, and half-pint whiskey 6_d._ The whole came to eight shillings. -Weather very pleasant most of the day. We walked to Brien's about -half-past six o'clock, which they call twenty-four miles. We eat a -little fried salt pork and bit of venison at Friends',[27] and then -crossed the great Youghiogeny. About two miles further on, we crossed -the little _ditto_ at Boyles's.... We walked about or near an hour after -dark, and were very agreeably surprised to find ourselves at Brien's -instead of Stackpole's, which is four miles further than we expected. -Eat a bit of Indian bread, and the woman gave us each about half a pint -of milk to drink, which was all our supper. - -"Tuesday, 16 March, 1790. We were up this morning, and away about or -before sunrise, and ascended the backbone of the Alleghany, and got -breakfast at Williams's. I cannot keep up with my company. It took me -till dark to get to Davis's. Messers. Dodge and Proctor had gone on -before us about three miles to Dawson's. We got some bread and butter -and milk for supper, and drank a quart of cider. Mr. Davis was -originally from Ashford, county of Windham, Connecticut; has been many -years settled in this country; has married twice, and got many children. -His cider in a brown mug seemed more like home than any thing I have met -with. - -"Wednesday, 17 March. We were up this morning before day, and were set -off before it was cleverly light. Got to Dawson's, three miles, where -Messers. D. & P. lodged, and got some tea for breakfast, and set off in -good season, the doctor and I falling behind. As it is very miry, -fatiguing walking, and rainy, which makes extremely painful walking in -the clay and mud, we could not keep up with D. We stopped about a mile -and a half from the Methodist meeting near the cross roads at Cressops, -and four from Cumberland, and got some fried meat and eggs, milk, -butter, &c., for dinner, which was a half pistareen each. After dinner -the doctor and I walked into Cumberland village about three o'clock, and -put up at Herman Stitcher's or Stidger's. We called for two mugs of -cider, and got tea, bread and butter, and a boiled leg of fresh young -pork for supper. The upper part of the county of Washington has lately -been made a separate county, and called Alleghany, as it extends over -part of that mountain, and reaches to the extreme boundary of Maryland. -The courts, it is expected, will be fixed and held at this place, -Cumberland, which will probably increase its growth, as it thrives -pretty fast already. We supped and breakfasted here; paid 2_s._ for -each, the doctor and me. Pleasant fine weather this day. My feet -exceedingly sore, aching, throbbing, and beating. I cannot walk up with -my company. - -"Thursday, 18 March. Paid Mr. Dodge 6_s._ advance. A very fine day. We -stayed and got breakfast at Stitcher's, and walked from about eight -o'clock to twelve, to Old Town, and dined at Jacob's, and then walked to -Dakins's to lodge, where we got a dish of Indian or some other home -coffee, with a fry of chicken and other meat for supper. This is the -first meal I have paid a shilling L. M. for. The country very much -broken and hilly, sharp high ridges, and a great deal of pine. About ... -miles from Old Town, the north and south branches of the Potomac join. -We walked twenty-five miles to-day. - -"Friday, 19 March, 1790. Very fine weather again to-day. We walked -twenty-four miles to McFarren's in Hancock, and arrived there, sun about -half an hour high. McFarren says this town has been settled about ten or -twelve years, and is called for the man who laid it out or owned it, and -not after Governor Hancock. It is a small but growing place of about -twenty or thirty houses, near the bank of the Potomac, thirty-five miles -below Old Town, and five below Fort Cumberland; twenty-four above -Williamsport, and ninety-five above Georgetown. We slept at McFarren's, -a so-so house. He insisted on our sleeping in beds, and would not -permit sleeping on the floors. We all put our feet in soak in warm water -this evening. It was recommended to us by somebody on the road, and I -think they feel the better for it. - -"Saturday, 20 March. A very fine day again. We have had remarkably fine -weather on this journey hitherto. But two days we had any rain, and then -but little. We stayed and got breakfast at McFarren's, and set out about -eight o'clock, and walked about twenty-one miles this day to Thompson's, -about half a mile from Buchanan's in the Cove Gap in the North Mountain. -My feet do not feel quite so bad this day, as they have some days. I -expect they are growing stronger and fitter for walking every day, -though it has cost me a great deal of pain, throbbing, beating, and -aching to bring them to it. It seems the warm water last night did me -some good. - -"Lord's Day, 21 March, 1790. Up and away before sunrise, and walked to -breakfast to McCracken's. He has been an officer in the continental -army. I find it will not do for me to try any longer to keep up with my -company, and as they propose going through Reading, and we through -Philadelphia, we must part to-night or to-morrow. I conclude to try -another seven miles, and if I cannot keep up, we part at Semple's, the -next stage. They got to Semple's before me, and waited for me. I -conclude to stay and dine here, and part with Messrs. Proctor and Dodge. -I am so dirty; my beard the ninth day old, and my shirt the time worn, -that I cannot with any decency or comfort put off the cleaning any -longer. I again overhauled the letters, as I had for security and care -taken all into my saddle-bags. I sorted them and gave Mr. Dodge his, -with what lay more direct in his way to deliver, and took some from him -for Boston and my route. - -"I paid Mr. Dodge three shillings more in addition to six shillings I -had paid him before at the Widow Carrel's, according to our agreement at -twelve shillings to Philadelphia; and as we had gone together and he had -carried our packs three hundred miles (wanting two), it was near the -matter. He supposed I should do right to give him a shilling more. I -told him as I had agreed with him at the rate of fifty pounds, when -they did not weigh above thirty-five, and at the rate of going up to -Pitt instead of returning, which is but half price, I thought it was a -generous price, and paid him accordingly as by agreement. We wished each -other a good journey, and Mr. Proctor, the doctor, and I drank a cup of -cider together. When we had got cleaned, a wagoner came along very -luckily, and dined with us, and going our way, we put our packs in his -wagon, and rode some to help. We gave him a quarter of a dollar for this -half day and tomorrow. We got to Carlisle in the evening and put up with -Adam at Lutz's. - -"This Carlisle is said to be extremely bad in wet weather. It probably -is nearly & quite as bad as Pittsburg, Marietta, Albany. I went to -Lutz's because Adam puts up there, he being of his nation, but it is a -miserable house, and Adam says he is sorry he carried us there. The -victuals are good, but they are dirty, rough, impolite. We supped on -bread and milk, and Lutz would insist on our sleeping in a bed and not -on the floor; so we did so. - -"Tuesday, 23 March, 1790. A pleasant day and the roads very much dried, -so that the travelling is now comfortable. We dined at Callender's in -more fashion than since I left home. Adam stopped at Simpson's so long -that it was dark when we got over the river to Chambers's, where we -stopped another half hour. Set off about seven o'clock, and got to -Foot's about eleven. All abed, but Adam got us a bit of bread and -butter, and made us a fire in the stove, and we lay on the floor. - -"Wednesday, 24 March, 1790. Old Foot is a crabbed.... He has been -scolding and swearing at Adam all this morning about something that I -cannot understand. It has rained last night, and the roads are again -intolerable. Adam says he cannot go again until his father says the -word, and that may not be this two or three days. But we cannot go and -carry our packs on our backs now, the roads are so bad, and we should -gain nothing to walk, but spend our strength to little or no purpose. We -must wait for a wagon to go along our way, and join it, or wait for the -roads to grow better. - -"Carried our dirty things to wash; two shirts, two pairs stockings, and -one handkerchief for me; two shirts, two pair stockings, and one pair -trowsers for the doctor. Went to several places to look for shoes for -the doctor. He could not fit himself at the shoemakers, and bought a -pair in a store for 8_s._ 4_d._ Pennsylvania, or 6_s._ 8_d._ our -currency. He went to Henry Moore's, the sign of the two Highlanders. I -drank a quart of beer and dined. Old Foot is a supervisor, and is gone -to Harrisburg to-day, to settle some of his business. - -"Thursday, 25 March, 1790. The sun rises and shines out so bright to-day -that I am in hopes the roads will be better, at least, when we go. Old -Foot could not finish his business yesterday, and is gone again to-day. -He is uncertain when he shall send Adam forward to Philadelphia, perhaps -not until Monday. It will not do for us to stay, if we can somehow get -along sooner. Time hangs heavy on our hands, but we do what we can to -kill it. The doctor and I went down to Moore's and dined together, which -was a shilling L. M. apiece. We then came back to Foot's and drank a -pint of cider-royal together. The house is for the most part of the day -filled with Germans, who talk much, but we cannot understand them. We -have coffee and toast, or meat for breakfast, and mush and milk for -supper. Our time is spent in the most irksome manner possible; eating -and drinking, and sleeping and yawning, and attending to the -conversation of these Dutch. In the evening the house is crowded with -the neighbors, &c., and for the ... Old Foot says, and Adam too, that he -will not go till Monday. This is very discouraging. - -"Friday, 26 March, 1790. A very dull prospect to-day. It rained very -hard in the night, and continues to rain this morning. No wagons are -passing, and none coming that we can hear of. We have no prospect now -but to stay and go with Adam on Monday. We stay at home to-day and -murder our time. We read McFingal, or Ballads, or whatever we can pick -up. We had coffee and toast and fresh fried veal for breakfast, and ate -heartily, and so we eat no dinner. The doctor goes out and buys us 8_d._ -worth of cakes, and we get a half-pint of whiskey, which makes us a -little less sad. In comes a man to inquire news, &c., of two men from -Muskingum. He had heard Thompson's report, which had made so much noise -and disquiet all through the country. He had three Harrisburg papers -with him, which give us a little relief in our dull and unwelcome -situation. At dark there come in two men with a wagon and want lodging, -&c. They stay this night, and with them we find an opportunity of going -forward as far as Lancaster, which we are determined to embrace. - -"Saturday, 27 March, 1790. We stay and get a good breakfast before we -set out, and agree to give Mr. Bailey 2_s._ L. M. for carrying our -baggage. This is higher than anything it has cost us on the road in -proportion, but we cannot help it. It is better than to waste so much -time in a tavern. It rains steadily, and the road is all mush and water. -Before I get on a hundred rods I am half-leg deep in mire. Set off about -eight o'clock, and overtook the wagon about two miles ahead. However, it -clears off before night, and the sun shines warm, and the roads mend -fast. We made a stay in Elizabethtown about two hours to feed and rest. -The doctor and I had two quarts of beer and some gingerbread and -buckwheat cakes for dinner. We got to Colonel Pedens to lodge, which is -eighteen miles through an intolerable bad road, to-day. (Elizabethtown, -about fifty houses; Middletown, about an hundred houses.) We paid our -landlady this evening, as we are to start so early in the morning it -would not do to wait till the usual time of getting up to pay then, and -we have got nine miles to go to reach Lancaster. - -"Lord's Day, 28 March, 1790. We started this morning at day dawn, and -got to ---- at the Black Horse, four and a half miles to breakfast. The -wagon went by us, and fed at Shoop's. I left the doctor with them and to -take care of the things, and walked into the town before them. Stopped -at Gross's, the Spread Eagle, and left word for the doctor, which they -never told him. I heard the bell ring for church just as I got here, -which made me go into town after waiting some time for them. Took leave -of Mr. Bailey, &c. I went to the English Episcopal Church, and then -went back to look for the doctor, and he looking for me; we were some -time in chase, and missed each other. Found we could not get served at -the Angel, so took our baggage and walked down to Doersh's, who keeps -the stage. Got dinner here. Shaved, shirted, put on my boots, and went -out into town. Stopped at the court-house and heard a Methodist. Walked -further about; stopped and looked into the Catholic chapel, and talked -with the priest. Looked into the churches, such as I could, and returned -to tea at sundown. Spent the remainder of the time till bed reading -newspapers. Washed my feet and went to bed just before ten. - -"Monday, 29 March, 1790. After breakfast the doctor and I took a ramble -about the town, to look at it and to inquire if we could find any wagon -going to Philadelphia, that we can get our baggage carried. The most -likely place we can hear of is to go to the Creek, about a mile from -town. Immediately after our walk we settled and paid, and set out at -just eleven o'clock. Paid toll over Conestoga bridge, and stopped at -Locher's, at the Indian King, two miles from Lancaster, and drank a -quart of beer. It was not good. Dined at Blesser's, on a cold meal, -which was 8_d._ L. M. apiece. Got to Hamilton's at Salsbury, a very good -house; nineteen miles. This is more than I expected when I set out at -eleven o'clock. A very good supper; rye mush and milk, cold corn beef, -and apple pie on the table. But 8_d._ L. M. for supper and lodging -apiece. We have had very good weather for travelling, and the roads are -drying fast. In hopes that we shall find some wagon going on the -Philadelphia road, that we may get our packs carried part of the way. - -"Tuesday, 30 March, 1790. We walked twenty-four miles this day, that is, -from Hamilton's to Fahnstock's. Very pleasant weather, suitable for -travelling; not too warm nor too cold. My feet very tender and sore, but -we keep along steady. Got to Fahnstock's, Admiral Warren, about eight -o'clock. Got some bread and milk for supper. The doctor had nothing but -a pint of cider for his supper. We slept well, considering my being -excessively fatigued. The post overtook us. - -"Wednesday, 31 March. Stayed to breakfast this morning, which was very -good, but I do not like the practice, at least I do not seem to need -eating meat with breakfast every morning. I sometimes eat it two or -three times a day because it is set before me, and it is the fashion to -have meat always on the table. We dined about seven miles from -Philadelphia; crossed the Schuylkill about sunset, and walked into town -about dark. Crossed the Schuylkill over the floating bridge, and paid -our toll, 1_d._ Pennsylvania each." - - - - -CHAPTER III - -A PILGRIM ON BRADDOCK'S ROAD - - -A yellow letter, almost in tatters, lies before me written by one Samuel -Allen to his father, Mr. Jason Allen of Montville, New London County, -Connecticut, from Bellville, Virginia,[28] November 15, 1796. Bellville -is in Wood County, West Virginia, eighteen miles by the Ohio River from -Parkersburg. - -This letter, describing a journey from Alexandria and Cumberland to the -Ohio by way of "broadaggs [Braddock's] old road," gives a picture of -certain of the more pathetic phases of the typical emigrant's experience -unequaled by any account we have met in print. Incidentally, there is -included a mention of the condition of the road and, what is of more -interest, a clear glimpse into the Ohio Valley when the great rush of -pioneers had begun after the signing of the Treaty of Greenville, the -year before, which ended the Indian War. - - "Bellville W. Va November the 15^{th} 1796. - -"Honoured Parents - -Six months is allmost gone since I left N. London [New London, -Connecticut] & not a word have I heard from you or any of the family I -have not heard wheather you are dead or alive, sick or well. When I -heard that Mr. Backus had got home I was in hopes of recieving a letter -by him. but his brother was here the other day and sayes that he left -his trunk and left the letters that he had in the trunk, so I am still -in hopes of having one yet. There is an opertunity of sending letters -once every week only lodge a letter in the post-offis in N. London & in -a short time it will be at Belleville. The people that came with me has -most all had letters from their friends in New England Mr Avory has had -two or three letters from his Brother one in fiften dayes after date all -of whitch came by the waye of the male. - -"General Putnam of Muskingdom [Marietta on the Muskingum] takes the New -London papers constantly every week - -"When we arrived to Allexandria [Alexandria, Virginia] Mr Avory found -that taking land cariag from there to the Monongehaly would be less -expence then it would be to go any farther up the Potomac & less danger -so he hired wagoners to carry the goods across the mountains to -Morgantown on the Monongahaly about one hundred miles above Pittsburg Mr -Avorys expence in comeing was from N London to Allexndria six dollars -each for the passengers and two shillings & six pence for each hundred -weight. from Allexandria to Morgantown was thirty two shillings and six -pence for each hundred weight of women & goods the men all walked the -hole of the way. I walked the hole distance it being allmost three -hundred miles and we found the rode to be pritty good untill we came to -the Mountaing. crossing the blue Mountain the Monongehaly & the Lorral -Mountains we found the roads to be verry bad. - -"You doubtless remember I rote in my last letter that Prentice was -taken ill a day or two before he continued verry much so untill the -10^{th} of July when he began to gro wors the waggoner was hired by the -hundred weight & could not stop unless I paid him for the time that he -stoped & for the Keeping of the horses that I could not affoard to do So -we were obliged to keep on We were now on the Allegany Mountain & a most -horrid rode the waggon golted so that I dare not let him ride So I took -him in my arms and carried him all the while except once in a while Mr -Davis would take him in his armes & carry him a spell to rest me. a -young man that Mr Avory hired at Allexandria a joiner whose kindness I -shall not forgit he kep all the while with us & spared no panes to -assist us in anything & often he would offer himself. our child at this -time was verry sick & no medecal assistance could be had on this -mountain on the morning of the 13^{th} as we was at breackfast at the -house of one Mr Tumblestone [Tomlinson?] the child was taken in a fit -our company had gone to the next house to take breakfast which was one -mile on our way we were alone in the room & went & asked Mrs -Tumblestone to come into the room she said she did not love to see a -person in a fitt but she came into the room Polly ask her if she new -what was good for a child in a fitt she said no & immediately left the -room & shut the door after her & came no more into the room when that -fitt left him there came on another no person in the room but Mr -Tumblestone who took but little notis of the child tho it was in great -distress Polly said she was afraid the child would die in one of them -fitts Mr Tumblestone spoke in a verry lite manner and sayes with a smile -it will save you the trouble of carrying it any farther if it does die -We then bundled up the child and walked to the next house ware we come -up with our company I had just seated myself down when the child was -taken in a fitt again when that had left it it was immediately taken in -another & as that went off we saw another coming on the Man of the house -gave it some drops that stoped the fitt he handed me a vial of the -dropps--gave directions how to use them the child had no more fitts but -seemed to be stuped all day he cried none at all but he kept a whining -& scouling all the while with his eyes stared wide open his face and his -eyes appeared not to come in shape as before When we took dinner it was -six mile to the next house the waggoners said they could not git through -thro that night we did not love to stay out for fear our child would die -in the woods so we set off & left the waggons I took the child in my -arms and we traveled on Mr Davis set off with us & carried the child -above half of the time here we traveled up & down the most tedious hills -as I ever saw & by nine oclock in the evening we came to the house the -child continued stayed all the night the next morning at break of day I -heard it make a strange noise I percieved it grew worse I got up and -called up the women [who] ware with us the woman of the house got up & -in two hours the child dyed Polly was obliged to go rite off as soon as -his eyes was closed for the waggoners would not stop I stayed to see the -child burried I then went on two of the men that was with me were -joiners & had their tools with them they stayed with me & made the -coffin Mr Simkins [Simpkins] the man of the house sent his Negroes out & -dug the grave whare he had burried several strangers that dyed a -crossing the mountain his family all followed the corps to the grave -black & white & appeared much affected. - -"When we returned to the house I asked Mr Simkins to give me his name & -the name of the place he asked me the name of the child I told him he -took his pen & ink & rote the following lines Alligany County Marriland -July the 14^{th} 1796 died John P Allen at the house of John Simkins at -atherwayes bear camplain broadaggs old road half way between fort -Cumberland & Uniontown.[29] I thanked him for the kindness I had -received from him he said I was verry welcome & he was verry sorry for -my loss - -"We then proceeded on our journey & we soon overtook the waggons & that -nite we got to the foot of the mountain We came to this mountain on the -11^{th} of the month and got over it the 19^{th} at night We left the -city of Allexandria on the Potomac the 30^{th} day of June & arrived at -Morgantown on the Monongahely the 18^{th} day of July - -"Thus my dear pearents you see we are deprived of the child we brought -with us & we no not whather the one we left is dead or alive. I beg you -to rite & let me no Polly cant bear her name mentioned without shedding -tears if she is alive I hope you will spare no panes to give her -learning. - -"When we arrived at Morgantown the river was so lo that boats could not -go down but it began to rain the same day that I got ther I was about -one mile from there when it began to rain & from the 22^d at night to -the 23^d in the morning it raised 16 feet the logs came down the river -so that it was dangerous for boats to go & on Sunday the 22^d in the -evening the boats set off three waggons had not arrived but the river -was loreing so fast that we dare not wate the goods was left with a -Merchant in that town to be sent when the river rises they have not come -on yet one of my barrels & the brass Cittle is yet behind - -"Mr Avory said while he was at Morgantown that Cattle were verry high -down the river & them that wanted to by he thought had better by then he -purchased some & I bought two cows and three calvs for myself & three -cows for Mrs Hemsted & calves & a yoke of three year old stears. The -next morning after the Boats sailed I set off by land with the cattle & -horses with John Turner & Jonathan Prentice & arrived at Bellvill the -9^{th} of August & found it to be a verry rich & pleasant country We -came to the Ohio at Wheeling crick one hundred miles belo Pittsburg & -about the same from Morgantown We found the country settled the hole of -the way from Morgantown to Wheeling & a verry pleasant road we saw some -verry large & beautiful plantations here I saw richer land than I ever -saw before large fields of corn & grane of a stout groath From Wheeling -to Bellville it is a wilderness for the most of the way except the banks -of the river this side----which is one hundred miles we found it verry -difficult to get victules to eat. I drove fifty miles with one meal of -victules through the wilderness & only a foot path & that was so blind -that we was pestered to keep it we could drive but a little wayes in a -day whenever night overtook us we would take our blankets & wrap around -us & ly down on the ground We found some inhabitance along the river but -they came on last spring & had no provisions only what they brought with -them - -"The country is as good as it was represented to be & is seteling verry -fast families are continually moveing from other parts into this -beautiful country if you would give me all your intrest to go back there -to live again it would be no temtation if you should sell your intrest -there & lay your money out here in a short time I think you would be -worth three or four times so much as you now are. it is incredible to -tell the number of boats that goes down this river with familys a man -that lives at Redstone Old fort on the Monongehaly says that he saw last -spring seventy Boats go past in one day with familys moveing down the -Ohio. There is now at this place a number of familys that came since we -did from Sesquehanah There is now at this place eighty inhabitance. Corn -is going at 2.^s pr bushel by the quantity 2.^s 6-^d by the single -bushel. There has been between two & three thousand bushels raised in -Bellville this season & all the settlements along the river as raised -corn in proportion but the vast number of people that are moveing into -this country & depending upon bying makes it scerce & much higher than -it would be - -"There is three double the people that passes by here then there is by -your house there is Packets that passes from Pittsburg to Kentucky one -from Pittsburg to Wheeling 90 miles one from that to Muskingdom 90 miles -One from that to Gallipolees 90 miles the french settlement opisite the -big Canawa [Kanawha] & from that there is another to Kentucky----of -which goes & returns every week &----loaded with passengers & they carry -the male Mammy offered me some cloath for a Jacket & if you would send -it by Mr Woodward it would be very exceptible for cloaths is verry high -here Common flanel is 6^s per yard & tow cloth is 3^s 9^d the woolves -are so thick that sheep cannot be kept without a shephard they often -catch our calvs they have got one of mine & one of Mrs Hemstid the -latter they caught in the field near the houses I have often ben awoak -out of my sleep by the howling of the wolves. - -"This is a fine place for Eunice they ask 1^s per yard for weaving tow -cloth give my respects to Betsey & Eunice & tell them that I hope one of -them will come with Mr Woodward when he comes on Horses are very high in -this country & if you have not sold mine I should be [glad] if you would -try to send him on by Mr. Woodward. I dont think Mr Avory will be there -this year or two & anything you would wish to send you nead not be -affraid to trust to Mr. Woodwards hands for he is a verry careful & a -verry honest man & what he says you may depend upon. - -"Land is rising verry fast Mr Avory is selling his lots at 36 dollars -apeace he has sold three since we came here at that price we was so long -a comeing & provisions so verry high that I had not any money left when -I got here except what I paid for the cattle I bought I have worked for -Mr Avory since I came here to the amount of sixteen dollars I paid him -80 dollars before we left N London I am not in debt to him at preasent -or any one else I have sot me up a small house and have lived in it -upwards of a fortnight we can sell all our milk and butter milk at 2^d -per quart Mr Avory will give me three shillings per day for work all -winter & find [furnish] me with victules or 4^s & find myself I need not -want for business I think I am worth more then I was when I came We have -ben in verry good health ever since we left home. - -"General St Clair who is now govener of the western teritoryes & General -Wilkinson with their Adicongs [Aid-de-camps] attended by a band of -soldiers in uniform lodged at Bellvill a few nights ago on their way -from headquarters to Philadelphia with Amaracan coulours a flying - -"Please to give my respects to George & James & tell them that if they -want an interest this is the country for them to go to make it Please to -except of my kind love to yourselves & respects to all friends who may -enquire do give my love to Mr Rogers & family & all my brothers and -sisters & our only child Lydia Polly sends her love to you & all her old -friends & neighbors - - Your affectionate son - Samuel Allen" - - -The following is a translation of a letter written twelve years after -Washington's journey of 1784, by Eric Bollman, a traveler through -Dunkard's Bottom, to his brother Lewis Bollman, father of H. L. Bollman -of Pittsburg: - -"From Cumberland we have journeyed over the Alleghany Mountains in -company with General Irwin, of Baltimore, who owns some 50,000 acres in -this vicinity. The mountains are not so high and not so unproductive as -I had imagined them to be. Several points are rocky and barren, such as -the Laurel Ridge, but even this with proper attention and ... European -cultivation could be made productive. There are proportionately few such -ranges as this, and for the greater part, the mountains are covered with -fine timber. - -"We spent the first night at West Port. Up to this point, at the proper -seasons, the Potomac is navigable and could be made so quite a distance -further. But even in the present state the land journey to the -Monongahela, which is navigable and flows into the Ohio, is but a -distance of 60 miles.... - -"The road is not in a bad condition and could be made most excellent. -This will, without doubt, be accomplished just as soon as the country is -sufficiently inhabited, since there is no nearer way to reach the -Western waters. - -"The next day we dined with Mr. M. McCartin, still higher up in the -mountains. There are many settlements in this vicinity. We were -entertained in a beautiful, cool, roomy house, surrounded by oat fields -and rich meadows, where the sound of the bells told that cattle were -pasturing near by. We dined from delicate china, had good knives, good -forks, spoons, and other utensils. Our hostess, a bright, handsome, -healthy woman, waited upon us. After dinner, a charming feminine guest -arrived on horseback; a young girl from the neighboring farm, of perhaps -15 years of age, with such bashful eyes and such rosy cheeks, so lovely -and attractive in manner that even Coopley, our good mathematician, -could not restrain his admiration. - -"This is the 'backwoods' of America, which the Philadelphian is pleased -to describe as a rough wilderness--while in many parts of Europe, in -Westphalia, in the whole of Hungary and Poland, nowhere, is there a -cottage to be found, which, taking all things together in consideration -of the inhabitant, can be compared with the one of which I have just -written. - -"Four miles from this we reached the Glades, one of the most remarkable -features of these mountains and this land. These are broad stretches of -land of many thousand acres, covered with dense forests; beyond this -there is not a tree to be found, but the ground is covered knee-deep -with grass and herbs, where both the botanist and the cattle find -delicious food. Many hundred head of cattle are driven yearly, from the -South Branch and other surrounding places, and entrusted to the care of -the people who live here. What can be the cause of this strange -phenomenon! One can only suppose that at one time these glades were -covered with timber, which, overthrown by a mighty hurricane, gradually -dried and fell into decay. But it would take too long to give the many -reasons and arguments both for and against this supposition. - -"Only lately have the Indians ceased roving in this vicinity; which has -done much to delay its cultivation, but now it is being cleared quite -rapidly, and in a short time will, without doubt, become a fine place -for pasturage. We spent the second night with one named Boyle, an old -Hollander. Early the next morning we could hear the howling of a wolf in -the forest. - -"We breakfasted with Tim Friend, a hunter, who lived six miles further -on. If ever Adam existed he must have looked as this Tim Friend. I -never saw such an illustration of perfect manhood. Large, strong and -brawny; every limb in magnificent proportion, energy in every movement -and strength in every muscle, his appearance was the expression of manly -independence, contentment and intelligence. His conversation satisfied -the expectations which it awakened. With gray head, 60 years old, 40 of -which he had lived in the mountains, and of an observing mind, he could -not find it difficult to agreeably entertain people who wished for -information. He is a hunter by profession. We had choice venison for -breakfast, and there were around the house and near by a great number of -deers, bears, panthers, etc. I cannot abstain from believing that the -manly effort which must be put forth in the hunt, the boldness which it -requires, the keen observation which it encourages, the dexterity and -activity which are necessary to its success, act together more forcibly -for the development of the physical and mental strength than any other -occupation. - -"Agriculture and cattle-raising, in their beginning produce careless -customs and indolence; the mental faculties remain weak, the ideas -limited, and the imagination, without counterpoise, extravagant. -Therefore we admire the wisdom and penetration of the North American -Indian, his sublime eloquence and heroic spirit in contrast to the -Asiatic shepherd, from whom we receive only simple Arabic fables. The -man, of whatever color he may be, is always that which the irresistible -influence of his surroundings has formed him. We left our noble hunter -and his large, attractive family unwillingly and followed a roadway to -Duncard's Bottom, on Cheat river. - -"We had ridden along uneventfully for about two hours. I was in advance, -when Joseph, who rode behind me, cried: 'Take care, sir. Take care. -There is a rattlesnake.' It lay upon the road and my horse had almost -stepped upon it, which would have proved a disastrous thing. Joseph, a -good active fellow, sprang instantly from his horse in order to kill it. -The snake disappeared in the bushes and rattled. It sounded so exactly -like the noise of a grasshopper that I did not think it could be -anything else. Joseph armed himself with a stout stick and heavy stone, -followed the snake, found it, and killed it, but then jumped quickly -back, for he saw close by another rattlesnake, which had coiled itself -and was ready to spring at him. He hurried back again and killed the -second. They were 3-1/2 feet long and nine inches in circumference, in -the thickest part of the body; one had nine rattles and the other five. -We examined the poisonous fangs, took the rattles with us and hung the -bodies on a tree. I had thought until now that the principle of life was -as stubborn in a snake as in an eel, but found to my astonishment that a -slight blow was sufficient to destroy it in this dangerous specimen. -Other observations touching upon natural history I must keep for future -discussion. - -"We dined at Duncard's Bottom, crossed the Cheat river in the afternoon, -reached the Monongahela Valley, spent the night in a very comfortable -blockhouse with Mr. Zinn, and arrived the next day at Morgantown, on -the Monongahela. We spent a day and a half here and were pleasantly -entertained by Mr. Reeder and William M. Clary, and received much -information, especially concerning sugar, maple trees and sugar making. -From Morgantown we went to the mouth of George creek, Fayette county, -Pennsylvania. As it was afternoon when we reached here we were overtaken -by night and compelled to spend the night in a small blockhouse with Mr. -McFarlain. We found Mr. McFarlain a respectable, intelligent farmer, -surrounded as usual, by a large and happy family. - -"Directly after our arrival the table was set, around which the entire -family assembled. This appears to be the usual custom in the United -States with all people who are in some measure in good circumstances. -One of the women, usually the prettiest, has the honor of presiding at -table. There were good table appointments, fine china, and the simple -feast was served with the same ceremony as in the most fashionable -society of Philadelphia. Never, I believe, was there in any place more -equality than in this. Strangers who come at this time of day at once -enter the family circle. This was the case with us. Mr. McFarlain told -us much about his farm and the misfortunes with which he struggled when -he first cultivated the place upon which he now lives. He has lived here -30 years, a circumstance which is here very unusual, because the -adventure loving nature, together with the wish to better their -condition and the opportunity, has led many people to wander from place -to place. - -"'But,' said Mr. McFarlain, when we made this observation, 'I have -always believed there was truth in the saying, "A rolling stone gathers -no moss." With labor and industry I have at last succeeded, and can -still work as well as my sons.' - -"'Oh,' said his wife, a jolly woman, 'he does not do much. The most he -does is to go around and look at the work.' - -"'Let him, let him,' interrupted the daughter, an energetic, pretty girl -of perhaps 17 years, who was serving the coffee. 'He worked hard when he -was young.' And no girl of finer education could have said it with more -charming naivete or with the appearance of more unaffected love. - -"After the evening meal the eldest son showed us to our bed-room. 'Shall -I close the window?' said he. 'I usually sleep here and always leave it -open; it does not harm me, and Dr. Franklin advises it.' - -"The next morning when we came down we found the old farmer sitting on -the porch reading a paper. Upon the table lay 'Morse's Geography,' 'The -Beauty of the Stars,' 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' and other good books. I -have entered into particulars in my description of this family, because -we were then only five miles from the home of Gallatin, where the people -are too often represented as rough, uncultured, good-for-nothings. It is -not necessary to mention that all families here are not as this, yet it -is something to find a family such as this, living on this side of the -mountains, 300 miles from the sea coast. We called upon Mr. Gallatin, -but did not find him at home. Geneva is a little place, but lately -settled, at the junction of George creek and the Monongahela. - -"From here we went to Uniontown, the capital of Fayette county, where we -saw excellent land and Redstone creek. We dined the following day in -Redstone or Brownsville; journeyed to Washington, the capital of the -county of the same name, and arrived the following day in Pittsburg. - -"Of this city and its magnificent situation between two mighty rivers, -the Monongahela and the Allegheny, I shall write you another time. From -the window where I now sit, I have a view of the first named river, a -half mile long. It is as broad as the Thames in London. The bank on this -side is high, but horizontal and level, covered with short grass, such -as the sheep love, which reminds me of the rock at Brighthelmstein. It -is bordered with a row of locust trees. The bank on the other side is a -chain of hills, thickly shaded with oak and walnut trees. The river -flows quietly and evenly. Boats are going back and forth; even now one -is coming, laden with hides from Illinois. The people on board are -wearing clothes made of woolen bed blankets. They are laughing and -singing after the manner of the French, yet as red as Indians, and -almost the antipodes of their fatherland. - -"From here to the mouth of the Ohio it is 1,200 miles and 3,000 to the -mouth of the Mississippi. How enormous! How beautiful it is to see the -dominion of freedom and common sense established. To see in these grand -surroundings the development of good principle and the struggle toward a -more perfect life; to admire the spirit of enterprise as it works toward -a great plan, which seems to be in relation to the great plan which -nature itself has followed, and at last to anticipate by a secret -feeling, the future greatness and prosperity which lies before this -growing country." - - -Two years later Felix Renick passed this way and includes in his account -a vivid picture of the earliest sort of taverns in the West: - -"Some of our neighbors who had served in Dunmore's campaign in 1774, -gave accounts of the great beauty and fertility of the western country, -and particularly the Scioto valley, which inspired me with a desire to -explore it as early as I could make it convenient. I accordingly set out -from the south branch of Potomac for that purpose, I think about the -first of October, 1798, in company with two friends, Joseph Harness and -Leonard Stump, both of whom have long since gone hence. We took with us -what provisions we could conveniently carry, and a good rifle to procure -more when necessary, and further prepared ourselves to camp wherever -night overtook us. Having a long journey before us, we traveled slow, -and reached Clarksburgh the third night, which was then near the verge -of the western settlements in Virginia, except along the Ohio river. -Among our first inquiries of our apparently good, honest, illiterate -landlord, was whether he could tell us how far it was to Marietta -[Ohio], and what kind of trace we should have? His reply was, 'O yes, I -can do that very thing exactly, as I have been recently appointed one of -the viewers to lay out and mark a road from here to Marietta, and have -just returned from the performance of that duty. The distance on a -_straight line_ which we first run was seventy-five miles, but on our -return we found and marked another line that was much _nearer_.' This -theory to Mr. Harness and myself, each of us having spent several years -in the study and practice of surveying, was entirely new: we however let -it pass without comment, and our old host, to his great delight, -entertained us till late in the evening, with a detailed account of the -fine sport he and his associates had in their bear chases, deer chases, -&c., while locating the road. We pursued our journey next morning, -taking what our host called the nearest, and which he also said was much -the best route. The marks on both routes being fresh and plain, the -crooked and nearest route, as our host called it, frequently crossing -the other, we took particular notice of the ground the straight line had -to pass over, and after getting through we were disposed to believe that -our worthy host was not so far wrong as might be supposed. The straight -line crossing such high peaks of mountains, some of which were so much -in the sugar-loaf form, that it would be quite as near to go round as -over them. - -"The first night after leaving the settlement at Clarksburgh, we camped -in the woods; the next morning while our horses were grazing, we drew -on our wallets and saddlebags for a snack, that we intended should pass -for our breakfast, and set out. We had not traveled far before we -unexpectedly came to a new improvement. A man had gone there in the -spring, cleared a small field and raised a patch of corn, &c., staying -in a camp through the summer to watch it to prevent its being destroyed -by the wild animals. He had, a few days before we came along, called on -some of his near neighbors on the Ohio, not much more perhaps than -thirty miles off, who had kindly came forth and assisted him in putting -up a cabin of pretty ample size, into which he had moved bag and -baggage. He had also fixed up a rock and trough, and exposed a clapboard -to view, with some black marks on it made with a coal, indicating that -he was ready and willing to accommodate those who pleased to favor him -with a call. Seeing these things, and although we did not in reality -need any thing in his way, Mr. Harness insisted on our giving him a -call, observing that any man that would settle down in such a wilderness -to accommodate travelers ought to be encouraged. We accordingly rode up -and called for breakfast, horse feed, &c. Then let me say that as our -host had just 'put the ball in motion,' was destitute of any helpmate -whatever, (except a dog or two,) he had of course to officiate in all -the various departments appertaining to a hotel, from the landlord down -to the shoe-black on the one side, and from the landlady down to the -dishwash on the other. The first department in which he had to officiate -was that of the hostler, next that of the bar keeper, as it was then -customary, whether called for or not, to set out a half pint of -something to drink. The next, which he fell at with much alacrity, was -that of the cook, by commencing with rolled up sleeves and unwashed -hands and arms, that looked about as black and dirty as the bears' paws -which lay at the cabin door, part of whose flesh was the most -considerable item in our breakfast fare. The first operation was the -mixing up some pounded corn meal dough in a little black dirty trough, -to which the cleaner, and perhaps as he appeared to think him, the -better half of himself, his dog, had free access before he was fairly -done with it, and that I presume was the only kind of cleaning it ever -got. While the dodgers were baking, the bear meat was frying, and what -he called coffee was also making, which was composed of an article that -grew some hundred or one thousand miles north of where the coffee tree -ever did grow. You now have the bill of fare that we sat down to, and -the manner in which it was prepared; but you must guess how much of it -we ate, and how long we were at it. As soon as we were done we called -for our bill, and here follows the items: breakfast fifty cents each, -horses twenty-five each, half pint of whisky fifty cents. Mr. Harness, -who had prevailed on us to stop, often heard of the wilderness hotel, -and whenever mentioned, he always had some term of reproach ready to -apply to the host and the dirty breakfast, though we often afterwards -met with fare somewhat similar in all respects. - -"We camped two nights in the woods, and next day got to Marietta where -the land office was then kept by general Putnam, and from his office we -obtained maps of the different sections of country we wished to -explore."[30] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE GENESEE ROAD - - -The military importance of the Mohawk Valley and strategic portage at -Rome, New York, was emphasized in our study of Portage Paths.[31] -Throughout the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary struggle the -water route to the Hudson from Lake Ontario, by way of the Onondaga, -Lake Oneida, Wood Creek, and the Mohawk, was of great moment. But only -because it was a route--a thoroughfare; not because the territory -through which it coursed was largely occupied or of tremendous value. -The French held the lakes and the English were constantly striving for -foothold there. When Fort Oswego was built on the present site of -Oswego, the first step by the English was taken; the route had been the -river route with a portage at Fort Williams (Rome). When Fort Niagara -was captured in 1759 by Sir William Johnson, the French were driven from -the Lakes; Johnson's route to Niagara was by Lake Ontario from Oswego. -It has been suggested that a volume of this series of monographs should -be given to the campaigns of the English against Fort Niagara. These -campaigns were made largely on waterways; they left no roads which -became of any real importance in our national development. Certain -campaigns of the Old French War left highways which have become of -utmost significance; only of these routes and their story should this -series be expected to treat. Despite the two wars which had created busy -scenes in the Mohawk Valley, no landward route connected it with Niagara -River and Lake Erie except the Iroquois Trail.[32] No military road was -built through the "Long House of the Iroquois." To gain the key of the -western situation--Niagara--the common route was to Oswego. There were -local roads along the lake shore, and these were used more or less by -the troops. In the Revolution no American general could get beyond Fort -Stanwix by land. Leger himself came up the Oswego River to join -Burgoyne. - -[Illustration: PART OF A "MAP OF THE ROUTE BETWEEN ALBANY AND OSWEGO" -(_Parts AA' and BB' belong opposite_) - -[_Drawn about 1756; from original in British Museum_]] - -As a consequence, the interior of New York was an almost unexplored -wilderness at the end of the Revolution in 1783. With the opening of the -Genesee country by the various companies which operated there, a tide of -immigration began to surge westward from the upper Mohawk along the -general alignment of the old-time Iroquois Trail. Utica sprang up on the -site of old Fort Schuyler, and marked the point of divergence of the new -land route of civilization from the water route.[33] This was about -1786. In 1789 Asa Danworth erected his salt works at Bogardus Corners, -now the city of Syracuse. Geneva, Batavia, and Buffalo mark the general -line of the great overland route from Utica and Syracuse across New -York. It followed very closely the forty-third meridian, dropping -somewhat to reach Buffalo. - -The Great Genesee Road, as it was early known, began at old Fort -Schuyler, as a western extremity of the Mohawk Valley road and later -turnpike, and was built to the Genesee River by a law passed March 22, -1794. In 1798 a law was passed extending it to the western boundary of -the state. It was legally known as the Great Genesee Road and the Main -Genesee Road until 1800. In that year the road passed into the hands of -a turnpike company the legal name of which was "The President and -Directors of the Seneca Road Company." The old name clung to the road -however, and on the map here reproduced we find it called the "Ontario -and Genesee Turnpike Road." It forms the main street of both the large -cities through which it passes, Syracuse and Utica, and in both it is -called "Genesee Street." - -The first act of legislation which created a Genesee Road from an Indian -trail read as follows: - -"_Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented in -Senate and Assembly_ That Israel Chapin, Michael Myer, and Othniel -Taylor shall be and hereby are appointed commissioners for the purpose -of laying out and improving a public road or highway to begin at Old -Fort Schuyler on the Mohawk river and to run from thence in a line as -nearly straight as the situation of the country will admit to the Cayuga -Ferry in the county of Onondaga or to the outlet of the Cayuga lake at -the discretion of the said commissioners and from the said outlet of the -Cayuga lake or from the said Cayuga Ferry as the same may be determined -on by the said commissioners in a line as nearly straight as the -situation of the country will admit to the town of Canadaquai and from -thence in a line as nearly straight as possible to the settlement of -Canawagas on the Genesee river. - -"_And be it further enacted_ That the said road shall be laid out six -rods wide, but it shall not be necessary for the said commissioners to -open and improve the same above four rods wide in any place thereof. And -the whole of the said road when laid out, shall be considered as a -public highway and shall not be altered by the commissioners of any town -or country [county?] through which the same shall run. - -"_And be it further enacted_ That the treasurer of this State shall pay -to the said commissioners or any two of them a sum or sums of money not -exceeding in the whole the sum of six hundred pounds out of the monies -in the treasury which have arisen or may arise from the sale of military -lotts to be laid out and expended towards the opening and improving that -part of the said road passing through the military lands. - -"_And be it further enacted_ That for the purpose of laying out opening -and improving the remainder of the said road, the said treasurer shall -pay unto the said commissioners or any two of them out of any monies in -the treasury not otherwise appropriated at the end of the present -session of the legislature a sum not exceeding fifteen hundred pounds -which said sum shall be by them laid out and expended in making or -improving the remainder of the said road as aforesaid. _Provided_ that -no larger proportion of the said sum of fifteen hundred pounds shall be -appropriated towards the opening and improving of the said road in the -county of Ontario then in the county of Herkemer. - -"_And be it further enacted_ That it shall and may be lawful to and for -the said commissioners or any two of them to improve the said road by -contract or otherwise as to them may appear the most proper. - -"_And be it further enacted_ That where any part of the said road shall -be laid out through any inclosed or improved lands the owner or owners -thereof shall be paid the value of the said lands so laid out into an -highway with such damages as he, she or they may sustain by reason -thereof which value and damages shall be settled and agreed upon by the -said commissioners or any two of them and the parties interested -therein, and if they cannot agree, then the value of the lands and -damages shall be appraised by two justices of the peace, on the oaths of -twelve freeholders not interested in paying or receiving any part of -such appraisement, otherwise than in paying their proportion of the -taxes for the contingent charges of the county which freeholders shall -be summoned by any constable not otherwise interested than as aforesaid, -by virtue of a warrant to be issued by the said two justices of the -peace for that purpose, and the whole value of the said lands so laid -out into an highway, and damages together with the costs of ascertaining -the value of the said damages of the county in which the said lands -shall be situated are levied collected and paid. - -"_And be it further enacted_ That each of the said commissioners shall -be entitled to receive for their services the sum of sixteen shillings -for every day they shall be respectively employed in the said business -to be paid by the respective counties in which they shall so be employed -which sums shall be raised levied and paid together with and in the same -manner as the necessary and contingent charges of such county are raised -levied and paid and that the said commissioners shall account with the -auditor of this State for the monies they shall respectively receive -from the treasurer of this State by virtue of this act on or before the -first day of January one thousand seven hundred and ninety six."[34] - -A law entitled "An act appropriating monies for roads in the county of -Onondaga and for other purposes therein mentioned," passed April 11, -1796, contained the following concerning the Genesee Road: - -"_And be it further enacted_ That the said commissioners shall and they -are hereby strictly enjoined to expend two thousand dollars of the said -monies in repairing the highway and bridges thereon heretofore directed -to be laid out by law and now commonly called the Great Genesee road -from the eastern to the western bounds of the said county of Onondaga -and the residue of the money aforesaid to expend in the repair of such -highways and the bridges thereon in the said county as will tend most -extensively to benefit and accommodate the inhabitants thereof. - -"_And be it further enacted_ That it shall be the duty of the said -commissioners and they are hereby strictly enjoined to cause all and -every bridge which shall be constructed under their direction over any -stream to be raised at least three feet above the water at its usual -greatest height in the wettest season of the year and to construct every -such bridge of the most durable and largest timber which can be -obtained in its vicinity, and that wherever it can conveniently be done -the road shall be raised in the middle so as to enable the water falling -thereon freely to discharge therefrom and shall pursue every other -measure which in their opinion will best benefit the public in the -expenditure of the money committed to them."[35] - -In an act, passed April 1, 1796, supplementary to an "Act for the better -support of Oneida, Onondaga and Cuyuga Indians ...", it was ordered that -from the proceeds of all sales of lands bought of the Indians the -surveyor-general should pay L500 to the treasurer of Herkimer County and -a like amount to the treasurer of Onondaga County; this money was -ordered to be applied to "mending the highway commonly called the Great -Genesee Road and the bridges thereon."[36] - -A law of the year following, 1797, affords one of the interesting uses -of the lottery in the development of American highways. It reads: - -"Whereas it is highly necessary, that direct communications be opened -and improved between the western, northern and southern parts of this -State. Therefore - -"_Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented in -Senate and Assembly_, That for the purpose of opening and improving the -said communications, the managers herein after named shall cause to be -raised by three successive lotteries of equal value, the sum of -forty-five thousand dollars. That out of the neat [net?] proceeds of the -first lottery the sum of eleven thousand seven hundred dollars, and out -of the neat proceeds of the third lottery, the further sum of two -thousand two hundred dollars shall be and hereby is appropriated for -opening and improving the road commonly called the Great Genesee road, -in all its extent from Old Fort Schuyler in the county of Herkimer to -Geneva in the county of Ontario...."[37] - -The western movement to Lake Erie became pronounced at this time; the -founders of Connecticut's Western Reserve under General Moses Cleaveland -emigrated in 1796. The promoters of the Genesee country were -advertising their holdings widely. The general feeling that there was a -further West which was fertile, if not better than even the Mohawk and -Hudson Valleys, is suggested in a law passed March 2, 1798, which -contained a clause concerning the extension of the Genesee Road: - -"_And be it further enacted_ That the commissioner appointed in -pursuance of the act aforesaid, to open and improve the main Genessee -road, shall and he is hereby authorized and empowered to lay out and -continue the main Genessee road, from the Genessee river westward to the -extremity of the State. _Provided nevertheless_, that none of the monies -appropriated by the said act shall be laid out on the part of the road -so to be continued; _and provided also_ that the said road shall be made -at the expense of those who may make donations therefor."[38] - -The mania which swept over the United States between 1790 and 1840 of -investing money in turnpike and canal companies was felt early in New -York. The success of the Lancaster Turnpike in Pennsylvania was the -means of foisting hundreds of turnpike-road companies on public -attention and private pocket-books. By 1811, New York State had at least -one hundred and thirty-seven chartered roads, with a total mileage of -four thousand five hundred miles, and capitalized at seven and a half -millions. - -It is nothing less than remarkable that this thoroughfare from the -Mohawk to Lake Erie should have been incorporated as a turnpike earlier -in point of time than any of the routes leading to it (by way either of -the Mohawk Valley or Cherry Valley) from Albany and the East. The Seneca -Road Company was incorporated April 1, 1800. The Mohawk Turnpike and -Bridge Company was incorporated three days later. The Cherry Valley -routes came in much later. - -The Genesee Road was incorporated by the following act, April 1, 1800: - -"An act to establish a turnpike road company for improving the State -road from the house of John House in the village of Utica, in the county -of Oneida, to the village of Cayuga in the county of Cayuga, and from -thence to Canadarque in the county of Ontario. - -"_Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York represented in -Senate and Assembly_ That Benjamin Walker, Charles Williamson, Jedediah -Sanger and Israel Chapin and all such persons as shall associate for the -purpose of making a good and sufficient road in the form and manner -herein after described from the house of John House ... observing as -nearly the line of the present State [Genesee] road as the nature of the -ground will allow, shall be and are hereby made a corporation and body -politic in fact and in name, by the name of 'The President and Directors -of the Seneca Road Company'...."[39] - -The road was to be under the management of nine directors and the -capital stock was to be two thousand two hundred shares worth fifty -dollars each. The directors were empowered to enter upon any lands -necessary in building the road, specifications being made for appraisal -of damages. The road was to "be six rods in width ... cleared of all -timber excepting trees of ornament, and to be improved in the manner -following, to wit, in the middle of the said road there shall be formed -a space not less than twenty four feet in breadth, the center of which -shall be raised fifteen inches above the sides, rising towards the -middle by gradual arch, twenty feet of which shall be covered with -gravel or broken stone fifteen inches deep in the center and nine inches -deep on the sides so as to form a firm and even surface." - -Tollgates were to be established when the road was in proper condition -every ten miles; the rates of toll designated in this law will be of -interest for comparative purposes: - -_Tolls in 1800 on Seneca Turnpike, New York_ - - Wagon, and two horses .12-1/2 - Each horse additional .03 - Cart, one horse .06 - Coach, or four wheeled carriage, two horses .25 - Each horse additional .03 - Carriage, one horse .12-1/2 - Each horse additional .06 - Cart, two oxen .08 - Each yoke additional .03 - Saddle or led horse .04 - Sled, between December 15 and March 15 .12-1/2 - Score of cattle .06 - Score of sheep or hogs .03 - -The old Genesee Road passed through as romantic and beautiful a land as -heart could wish to see or know; but the road itself was a creation of -comparatively modern days, in which Seneca and Mohawk were eliminated -factors in the problem. Here, near this road, a great experiment was -made a few years after its building, when a canal was proposed and dug, -amid fears and doubts on the part of many, from Albany to Buffalo. One -of the first persons to advocate a water highway which would eclipse the -land route, sent a number of articles on the subject to a local paper, -whose editor was compelled to refuse to print more of them, because of -the ridicule to which they exposed the paper! Poor as the old road was -in bad weather, people could not conceive of any better substitute. - -[Illustration: PART OF A "MAP OF THE GRAND PASS FROM NEW YORK TO -MONTREAL ... BY THOS. POWNALL" - -[_Drawn about 1756; from original in British Museum_]] - -When the Erie Canal was being built, so poor were the roads leading into -the region traversed by the canal, that contractors were compelled to do -most of their hauling in winter, when the ground was frozen and sleds -could be used on the snow. Among the reasons given--as we shall see in a -later monograph of this series--for delays in completing portions of -the canal, was that of bad roads and the impossibility of sending heavy -freight into the interior except in winter; and a lack of snow, during -at least one winter, seriously handicapped the contractors. But when the -Erie Canal was built, the prophecies of its advocates were fulfilled, as -the rate per hundred-weight by canal was only one-tenth the rate charged -by teamsters on the Genesee Road. The old "waggoners" who, for a -generation, had successfully competed with the Inland Lock Navigation -Company, could not compete with the Erie Canal, and it was indeed very -significant that, when Governor Clinton and party made that first -triumphal journey by canal-boat from Buffalo to Albany and New -York--carrying a keg of Lake Erie water to be emptied into the Atlantic -Ocean--they were not joyously received at certain points, such as -Schenectady, where the old methods of transportation were the principal -means of livelihood for a large body of citizens. How delighted were the -old tavern-keepers in central New York with the opening of the Erie -Canal, on whose boats immigrants ate and slept? About as happy, we may -say, as were the canal operators when a railway was built, hurrying -travelers on at such a rapid pace that their destinations could be -reached, in many cases, between meals! - -Yet until the railway came, the fast mail-stages rolled along over the -Genesee Road, keeping alive the old traditions and the old breed of -horses. Local business was vastly increased by the dawning of the new -era; society adapted itself to new and altered conditions, and the old -days when the Genesee Road was a highway of national import became the -heritage of those who could look backward and take hope for the future, -because they recognized better the advances that each new year had -made. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -A TRAVELER ON THE GENESEE ROAD - - -Among the many records of travelers on the famous Genesee Road, that of -Timothy Bigelow, as given in his _Journal of a Tour to Niagara Falls in -the Year 1805_,[40] approaches perhaps most nearly to the character of a -description of the old highway which should be presented here: - -"July 14th. We proceeded [from Albany] to Schenectady to breakfast, -fifteen miles, Beale's tavern; a good house. A new turnpike is making -from Albany to this place; it is constructed in a very durable manner, -with a pavement covered with hard gravel. That part which is completed -is now an excellent road; the remainder will soon be equally good. It -was not disagreeable to us to be informed that this road, and indeed all -the other turnpikes, and most other recent works which we met with, -which required uncommon ingenuity or labor, were constructed by Yankees. - -"Schenectady seems not to be a word fitted to common organs of speech. -We heard it pronounced Snacketady, Snackedy, Ksnackidy, Ksnactady, -Snackendy, and Snackady, which last is much the most common. To -Ballston, Bromeling's, sixteen miles; a most excellent house. We found -here about forty guests, but understood there were upwards of two -hundred at Aldrich's, McMasters's, and the other boarding-houses near. -Bromeling himself has accommodations in the first style for one hundred -and thirty persons. - -"We met with but few people here from Massachusetts. Mr. Henry Higginson -and his wife, Mr. Bingham, the bookseller, and his family, were all we -knew. The mineral water was not agreeable to us all upon the first -experiment; but with others, and myself in particular, it was otherwise. -It is remarkably clear and transparent; the fixed air, which is -continually escaping from it, gives it a sparkling appearance, and a -lively and full taste, not unlike to that of brisk porter or champagne -wine, while one is actually drinking.... We slept at Beals's. July -17th, we took the western stage in company with a Mr. Row, a gentleman -from Virginia, who was about to engage in trade at Geneva, on the Seneca -Lake. We crossed over to the north side of the Mohawk soon after setting -out, to Schwartz's (still in Schenectady), a poor house, seven miles; -thence to Pride's in Amsterdam, nine miles. Pride's is a handsome -limestone house, built about fifty years since, as we were informed, by -Sir William Johnson, for his son-in-law, Guy Johnson.... To Abel's in -Amsterdam, situated on Trapp's Hill, opposite to the mouth of Schoharie -River and the old Fort Hunter, to dine. The prospect to the south-west -is extensive and romantic, exhibits an agreeable mixture of hills and -plains, diversified with extensive forests almost in a state of nature, -and cultivated fields scarce less extensive, now covered with a rich -harvest of ripening wheat. The prospect was the principal thing which we -found in this place to recommend it. The tavern is a poor one, and our -dinner of course was miserable. Four miles to Shepard's, in -Canajoharie, to sleep.... The Mohawk in many places was shoal, and -interrupted with so many islands and sand-banks that we were often at a -loss to conceive how loaded boats could pass, and yet we saw several -going up-stream with heavy loads.... July 18th. To Carr's at Little -Falls, to breakfast, twenty miles; a very good house. In this stage, we -passed the East Canada Creek. Observed for the very first time the -cypress-tree. The gloomy, melancholy air of this tree, and the deep -shade which it casts, resulting from the downward direction of its -branches, as well as the form and color of its leaves, have very -properly marked it out as emblematical of mourning. - -"On approaching the Little Falls, we observed undoubted marks of the -operation of the water on rocks, now far out of their reach, -particularly the round holes worn out [by] pebbles kept in a rotatory -motion by the current, so common at all falls. It is certain that -heretofore the falls must have been some ways further down stream, and -have been much greater than they now are, and that the German flats, -and other low grounds near the river above, must have been the bed of a -lake. The falls occupy about half a mile. In some spots, the river is so -crowded between rocks, that one might almost pass across it; in most -places, however, it is broken into a number of streams by irregular -masses of limestone rock. There is here a commodious canal for the -passage of boats cut round these falls. The whole fall is fifty-four -feet; and there are five locks, in each of which the fall is ten feet, -besides the guard-lock, where it is four. The locks are constructed of -hewn stone, and are of excellent workmanship; they are almost exactly -upon the construction of those at the head of Middlesex canal. Most of -the buildings in the neighborhood, as well as two beautiful bridges over -the canal here, are also of limestone. Carr and his wife are from -Albany, and are agreeable and genteel people. - -"To Trowbridge's Hotel, in Utica, to dine. The house is of brick, large, -commodious, and well attended. We found good fare here; in particular, -excellent wine. From Little Falls to this is twenty-two miles. In this -stage, we passed the German flats, an extensive and well-cultivated -tract of internal land on both sides the Mohawk. The town of German -Flats is on the south of the town of Herkimer, opposite thereto, on the -north side of the river. Notwithstanding the celebrity of this spot for -the excellence of its soil, we thought it not equal to that on -Connecticut River. Having passed the West Canada Creek, the hills on -both sides the river seem to subside, and open to the view an extensive -and almost unbounded tract of level and fertile country, though of a -much newer aspect than any we had seen before. - -[Illustration: WESTERN NEW YORK IN 1809] - -"At Utica, we passed over to the southern side of the Mohawk. The river -here is about the size of the Nashua, and from this place bends off to -the north-west. We happened to pass the bridge as a batteau was coming -up to a store at the end of it, to discharge its cargo. The water was so -shoal that the batteau grounded before it could be brought to its proper -place. A pair of horses were attached to its bows, and it was not -without the assistance of several men, added to the strength of the -horses, that it was got up to the landing-place at last. - -"Morality and religion do not seem to have much hold of the minds of -people in this region. Instances of rudeness and profanity are to be met -with in almost every place, but the people engaged in unloading the -batteau were much more extravagantly and unnecessarily profane than is -common. Several persons also, whom I saw at Little Falls this morning, -told me that they knew full well that Adam could not have been the first -man, or that he must have lived much longer ago than the Scriptures -declare, because they said it must be more than five thousand years for -the Mohawk to have broken through the rocks, as it has done at those -falls. - -"Utica was begun to be settled sixteen years ago, and is now a little -city, and contains several elegant dwelling-houses, some of which are of -brick, and a few of stone, together with a great number of stores and -manufactories of different kinds. The Lombardy poplar-tree is cultivated -here in great abundance. The facility of transportation by means of the -Mohawk and Hudson Rivers on one side, and Wood Creek, Oneida, and -Ontario Lakes on the other, together with the extraordinary fertility of -the adjacent country, must at no great distance of time make Utica a -place of great business and resort, and of course its population must -rapidly increase. Moses Johnson, a broken trader, late of Keene, now of -Manlius, a little above this place, whom we saw at Trowbridge's, spoke -of this country as not favorable for traders, and that a very few stores -of goods would overstock the market. It is natural, however, for people -in his situation to ascribe their misfortunes to anything rather than -their own imprudence or misconduct, which others would probably consider -as the true cause of them. Mr. Charles Taylor and his father, whom we -had overtaken at Shepard's, we left at Utica. - -"July 19th. To Laird's in Westmoreland, to breakfast, eleven miles; a -very good house. Our breakfast here was garnished with a dish of -excellent honey. Every thing in and about the house was neat, and we -were particularly struck with the genteel and comely appearance of two -young ladies, daughters of our landlord, one of whom, we were told, had -attended a ball in the neighborhood, I think at Paris, the evening -before. This stage was over a tract of very fertile country, nearly -level, but a little ascending; the growth was mostly of rock-maple and -lime-tree. We passed a creek in New Hartford, called Sawguet, or Sogwet, -or Sacada [Sauquoit], and another in a corner of Paris called Kerry, or -Riscana, say Oriskany. The whole country from Utica to this place is -thickly settled. The houses are mostly well built, and many of them -handsome; very few log houses to be seen. Young orchards are numerous -and thrifty, and Lombardy poplars line the road a great part of the way; -and yet we saw not a single field which had not the stumps of the -original forest trees yet remaining in it. Honey is sent from hence to -Lake Ontario, in barrels. - -"To Shethar's in Sullivan, eighteen miles, to dine; a good tavern. The -face of the country is not so level here as about Utica, though it -cannot be called hilly, even here. In addition to the forest trees which -we had before seen, we here found the shag-bark nut tree in abundance. -In this stage, we passed through the Oneida Indian village.... In this -stage, we also passed the Skanandoa Creek, the first water we met with -which discharges itself into the ocean by the St. Lawrence, as the -Oriskany was the last which pays tribute to the Hudson. - -"We next passed the Oneida Creek, which unites with the Skanandoa. The -earth in some places here is of the same color with that on Connecticut -River, where the red freestone is found. In the Oneida village, the -fields are free from stumps, the first to be met that are so from Utica -to this place.... To Tyler's in Onondaga Hollow, to sleep, twenty-one -miles. The last sixteen miles are over a very hilly country; the -Canaseraga Mountain, in particular, is four or five miles over, and very -steep.... - -"The country, as we approached Onondaga Hollow, we found had been -longer settled than nearer the Oneida village, because the last cession -of the Oneidas on the west, and immediately contiguous to their present -reservation, was made but six or eight years ago, whereas the country to -the westward of that had begun to be settled some time before. The town -of Manlius, in particular, has the appearance of a flourishing -settlement. This town is the first in the _Military Tract_, which is the -lands given by the State of New York as a gratuity to the officers and -soldiers of their line in the Revolutionary Army. As we were descending -into the Onondaga Hollow, we saw to the north-westward the Salina or -Onondaga Lake.... - -"The Onondaga Creek, which is of a convenient size for a mill-stream, -runs along the Hollow from south to north, as do all the other streams -in this country. This creek passes near the celebrated Onondaga salt -springs, which are situated about five or six miles northward from -Tyler's.... July 20th. Rose at half past two o'clock, and proceeded to -Andrew's, at Skaneateles, to breakfast, sixteen miles; a good tavern. -The country is still hilly, but very fertile. The soil is deep,--a -mixture of loam and clay. The roads here must be very bad in wet -weather. It rained last night for the first time since we commenced our -journey; and the horses' feet, in consequence thereof, slipped as if -they were travelling on snow or ice. - -"Rising out of Onondaga Hollow is a long and very steep hill. The road -is constructed on the southern side of a precipice, in such a manner -that, as you approach the top of the hill, you have a tremendous gulf on -your left hand, at the bottom of which you hear the murmur of a brook -fretting among the rocks, as it is passing on toward the Onondaga Creek, -which it joins in the Hollow. There is a kind of railing or fence, -composed of logs secured with stakes or trees, which is all that -prevents the passenger, and even the road itself, from falling to the -bottom of the gulf. On the hill we found the embryo of a village. A -court-house is already built, and the frame of a hotel is raised. The -hotel, we were told, is to be kept by one Brunson. It is an -accommodation much needed by travellers on this road. - -"To Harris's in Cayuga, fifteen miles, to dine. We here had an excellent -dinner of beefsteaks. Mr. Harris told us that they could keep beef fresh -four or five days, in hot weather, by hanging it upon the -trees--wrapping it in flannel--as high as was convenient. Flannel is -better to wrap it in than linen. - -"The village of Cayuga is small, but pleasant and lively. It is in the -township of Marcellus, on the eastern bank of the Cayuga Lake, within -one or two miles of its northern extremity. This lake is about two miles -wide in general, and almost forty miles long. Nearly north and south -from the village, there are about fifteen miles of the lake in sight. -The shores are mostly of hard land, except at the northern extremity, -where there is a great deal of marsh, which is an unfavorable -circumstance for the village, as it is not only disagreeable to the -sight, but, I think, also to the smell. There is a wooden bridge across -the lake, leading from Cayuga village towards Geneva, one mile long, -wanting three roods. It suffered so much by shocks of the ice last -winter, that in some places it is hardly safe to pass it. This forenoon -we had passed the outlet of the Owasco Lake, but did not see the lake -itself, which we were told was about a mile south of the road. The -country hitherto is somewhat uneven, though by no means so much so as -near the Onondaga Hollow. The soil, however, is excellent in many -places, and is of a reddish color. - -"To Powell's Hotel in Geneva, to sleep, sixteen miles; excellent -accommodations. At Harris's we had met with a Mr. Rees, a gentleman in -trade at Geneva, who took passage in the stage with us for that place. -From this gentleman, whom we found very intelligent and communicative, -we learned many particulars concerning the salt springs, discovered -about five years since upon the Cayuga outlet. These springs are about -twelve miles below the Cayuga bridge, and are on both sides the outlet: -that on the western side is in the township of Galen, and belongs to Mr. -Rees and his partner in trade. These springs had long been known to the -Indians, but they had always been reserved in communicating their -knowledge of the state of the country to the white settlers. It was not -till most or all of those who lived near this outlet had died or moved -away, except one, that he mentioned the existence of these springs; and -for a reward he conducted some persons to the place where they are -situated. The persons to whom he communicated this information -endeavored to purchase the favored spot before the owner should be -apprised of its inestimable value; but he accidentally obtained a -knowledge of his good fortune, and of course refused to sell.... - -The road from Cayuga to Geneva is for a few miles along the southern or -south-eastern side, and the rest along the northern or north-eastern -side of the Seneca outlet. The face of the country near the road is more -level; but the soil is more sandy and uninviting than we had lately -seen, till we approached near to Geneva. The land there is excellent, as -we were told it was, through all the tract which extends between the -Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. This tract rises in a kind of regular glacis -from each lake, so that from the middle of it one can see both. It wants -nothing but inhabitants and cultivation to make it an elysium. The -Seneca outlet flows into the lower end of the Cayuga Lake. Towards its -mouth there is a considerable fall, or rather rapid, which it is -contemplated to lock, whereby a water communication will be opened -between the two lakes. The stream is about half the size of the -Winnipiseogee, and has a bluish-white appearance. - -"We were within half a mile of Geneva before we came in sight of the -Seneca Lake. This charming sheet of water extends southerly from this -place to Catharine Town, forty miles, being from two to four miles wide. -There is not a foot of swamp or marsh on its borders, from one extremity -to the other; but it is everywhere lined by a clear, gravelly beach, and -the land rises from it with a very gentle and graceful ascent in every -direction.... - -"Not far from Geneva are some of the Indian orchards, which were cut -down by General Sullivan in his famous expedition, scarce less barbarous -than those of the savages themselves. The trees now growing in these -orchards sprouted from the roots of those which were cut down, and -therefore grow in clusters, six or seven rising from one root. We saw -Indian fields here free from stumps, the only ones which are to the -westward of Utica, except those belonging to the Oneidas. We were told -that, at this season of the year, the wind at Geneva blows constantly -from the south in the forenoon, and from the north in the afternoon. We -here quitted the stage, which runs no further than Canandaigua, and -hired an open Dutch wagon and driver, and a single horse, to carry us to -Niagara.... The turnpike road ends at this place [Canandaigua]. The -whole length from Albany is two hundred and six or seven miles: it may -properly be called two turnpikes, which join each other at Utica. A -project is on foot for still extending the turnpike even to Niagara, a -direct course to which would not probably exceed one hundred miles. - -"Mr. Rees told us yesterday that he was engaged to proceed to-morrow -with certain commissioners to mark out the course of the road, and that -the proprietors will begin to work upon it next year. The road may not -be very good property at first, but will probably soon become so, -judging from the astonishing rapidity with which this country is -settled. It is ascertained that one thousand families migrated hither -during the last year, two thirds of whom were from New England. - -"To Hall's in Bloomfield, to sleep, twelve miles; very good house. We -had an excellent supper and clean beds. The town of Bloomfield has been -settled about fifteen years, and is now in a flourishing state. Here is -a handsome new meeting-house with a tasty steeple. The vane on the -steeple is rather whimsical. It is a flying angel, blowing a trumpet -against the wind.... To Hosmer's in Hartford, to breakfast, twelve and a -half miles. Between Bloomfield and this, we passed through Charleston, -which has but recently been reclaimed from the wilderness. It is -perfectly flat, the soil is pretty good, though better, and more settled -at some distance from the road than near it. The reason of cutting the -road where it goes was because the country in that direction was open, -when it was first explored, between this place and Lake Ontario, which -is but twenty-eight miles distant, or to Gerundegut [now Toronto] Bay, -but twenty-two miles.... - -"Hitherto we have found better roads since we left the turnpike than -before, except that the bridges and causeways are mostly constructed -with poles. Hosmer, our landlord, is an intelligent man and keeps a good -tavern. We had for breakfast good coffee, excellent tea, loaf sugar, -mutton chop, waffles, berry pie, preserved berries, excellent bread, -butter, and a salad of young onions. I mention the particulars, because -some of the articles, or such a collection, were hardly to be expected -in such a depth of wilderness. - -"To Gansen's in Southampton, twelve and a half miles, to dine. Within -about a mile of Hosmer's, we passed the Genesee River. The outlet of the -Conesus Lake joins this river about a mile above, or to the south. Where -we crossed, there is a new bridge, apparently strong and well built; and -yet the water last spring undermined one end of it, so that it has sunk -considerably.... - -"Gansen's is a miserable log house. We made out to obtain an ordinary -dinner. Our landlord was drunk, the house was crowded with a dozen -workmen, reeking with rain and sweat, and we were, withal, constantly -annoyed with the plaintive and frightful cries and screams of a crazy -woman, in the next room. We hastened our departure, therefore, even -before the rain had ceased. - -"To Russell's in Batavia, twelve miles, to sleep. One mile from -Gansen's, we crossed Allen's Creek, at Buttermilk Falls, where there are -mills, and five miles further the Chookawoonga Creek, near the eastern -transit line of the Holland purchase. This line extends from the bounds -of Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario, a distance of near ninety-four miles. -So far, the road was the worst of any we had seen; and none can be much -worse and be passable for wheels. Within six miles of Batavia, the road -is much better, and the land of a good quality, heavily timbered all the -way, but especially near the settlement. It is but three years since -this spot was first cleared, and it is now a considerable village. Here -is a large building, nearly finished, intended for a court-house, jail, -and hotel, under the same roof. The street is perfectly level, and is -already a good and smooth road. Here is also an excellent mill, on a -large and commodious scale, situated on the Tonawanda Creek, which is -the first water we saw which passes over Niagara Falls. Russell's is a -poor tavern. We were told that our sheets were clean, for they had been -slept in but a _few_ times since they were washed. - -"July 23d. To Luke's in Batavia, to breakfast, five miles. We intended -to have stopped at McCracken's, one mile short of this, but we were told -that we could not be accommodated. The exterior appearance of both -houses was very much alike; they are log huts, about twelve feet square. -Luke's consisted of a single room, with a small lean-to behind, which -served for a kitchen. It contained scarce any furniture, not even -utensils enough to serve us comfortably for breakfast.... - -"It was but eighteen months since Luke began a settlement here, and he -was the first who made the attempt between Batavia and Vandevener's, a -distance of eighteen miles, though in that distance now there are -several huts. Taverns like Luke's are not uncommon in this vicinity; -almost every hut we saw had a sign hung out on a pole or stump, -announcing that it was an inn. Perhaps such complete poverty did not -exist in them all as we found at Luke's, yet, judging from external -appearances, the difference could not be great. - -"We passed the Tonawanda near Batavia court-house, and then kept along -its southern bank to this place. The woods are full of new settlers. -Axes were resounding, and the trees literally falling about us as we -passed. In one instance, we were obliged to pass in a field through the -smoke and flame of the trees which had lately been felled and were just -fired. - -"To Vandevener's in Willink, thirteen miles. We had intended only to -dine here; but by reason of a thunder shower, and the temptation of -comfortable accommodations, we concluded not to proceed till next day. -Our last stage was through the Batavia woods, famed for their horrors, -which were not abated by our having been informed at Russell's, that not -far from here a white man had lately been killed by the Indians. We -found the road much better than we had anticipated; the last four miles -were the worst. A little labor would make the road all very good, at -least in dry weather. There is another way to come from Batavia here; -but it is six miles further, and probably little or no better than this. - -"It was but three years since Vandevener began here. He at first built a -log house, but he has now a two-story framed house, adjoining that. His -whole territory is five hundred acres, one hundred of which he has -already got under improvement.... - -"July 23d. To Ransom's in Erie, to breakfast, fourteen miles. Ransom -came from Great Barrington in Massachusetts, and settled here last -September.... The last three miles from Ellicott's Creek to Ransom's is -a new road cut through a thick wood, and is as bad as any part of the -road through the Batavia woods. - -"To Crow's at Buffalo Creek, eight miles. In this stage, we passed -the Four Mile Creek. Half the distance from Ransom's was over open -country, ... in which many young chestnut-trees are just sprouting from -the ground. The rest of our way was through a thick wood, where the -growth is the same kind as in the interior of Massachusetts.... - -"From Buffalo we passed along the beach of Lake Erie, to the ferry -across its outlet on the Niagara River, at Black Rock, so called, three -miles...." - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE CATSKILL TURNPIKE - - -So few writers have paid any attention to the influence of roads in the -development of our country that it is a great pleasure to find in -Francis Whiting Halsey's _The Old New York Frontier_,[41] a chapter on -the old Catskill Turnpike; through the kindness of the author it is -possible to present here this story of that strategic highway of old New -York: - -"Before the Revolutionary War something of a road had been cut through -the woods from Otsego Lake southward along the Susquehanna, and other -primitive roads led to and from the lake; but these highways had almost -disappeared during the later years of the war, when Nature had done her -effective work of reclamation. The one leading from the lake southward -was improved in 1786 as far as Hartwick, and others were speedily taken -in hand. Further down the river efforts were made to establish -convenient communication with the Hudson, and out of this grew a road -which eventually became the great highway for a large territory. It was -called the Catskill Turnpike, and had its terminus on the Susquehanna at -Wattles's Ferry.[41a] - -"This road, as a turnpike, properly dates from 1802, but the road itself -is much older. Its eastern end had been opened long before the -Revolution with a terminus in the Charlotte Valley. It seems then to -have been hardly more than a narrow clearing through the forest, what -farmers call a 'wood road,' or frontiersman a 'tote road.' It served as -a convenient route to the Susquehanna, because much shorter than the -older route by the Mohawk Valley. Over this road on horseback in 1769, -came Colonel Staats Long Morris and his wife, the Duchess of Gordon. - -"After the war demands rose for a better road, and one was soon -undertaken with its terminus at Wattles's Ferry. This terminus appears -to have been chosen because the river here was deep enough to permit the -use of 'battoes' during the low water that prevailed in summer. By the -summer of 1788 the road was in passable condition. Alexander Harper and -Edward Paine in February, 1789, declared that they had been to 'a very -great expense in opening the roads from Catskill and the Hudson to the -Susquehanna River.' In the same year a petition was filed for a road -'from the Ouleout to Kyuga Lake.' The road to Cayuga Lake (Ithaca) made -slow progress, and in 1791 General Jacob Morris addressed to Governor -Clinton a letter which shows that it was then still to be undertaken. -Early in 1790 the State had taken the road to Catskill in charge. In -August, G. Gelston made up from surveys a map from Catskill 'running -westerly to the junction of the Ouleout Creek with the Susquehanna -River.' The country had been previously explored for the purpose by -James Barker and David Laurence.[42] - -"In 1791 Sluman Wattles charged his cousin, Nathaniel Wattles, L4, 6_s._ -for 'carting three barrells from your house to Catskill,' L1 for 'five -days work on the road,' and 15 shillings for 'inspecting road.' Besides -Nathaniel Wattles, Menad Hunt was interested in the work, and in 1792 -the two men appealed to the state to be reimbursed for money paid out -above the contract price.[43] During this year the father of the late -Dr. Samuel H. Case, of Oneonta, emigrated to the upper Ouleout from -Colchester, Conn., with his seven brothers. They drove cattle and sheep -ahead of them, and consumed eight days in making the journey from the -Hudson River. Solomon Martin went over the road in the same year, using -Sluman Wattles's oxen, for which he was charged L1, 17_s._ He went to -Catskill, and was gone fifteen days. This road was only twenty-five feet -wide. In 1792 a regular weekly mail-route was established over it. - -"These are among the many roads which were opened in the neighborhood -before the century closed--before the Catskill Turnpike, as a turnpike, -came into existence. Nearly every part of the town of Unadilla, then -embracing one-third of Otsego County, had been made accessible before -the year 1800. The pioneers had taken up lands all through the hill -country. But the needs of the settlers had not been fully met. All over -the State prevailed similar conditions. The demands that poured in upon -State and town authorities for road improvements became far in excess of -what could be satisfied. Everywhere fertile lands had been cleared and -sown to grain, but the crops were so enormous that they could neither be -consumed at home nor transported to market elsewhere. Professor McMaster -says that 'the heaviest taxes that could have been laid would not have -sufficed to cut out half the roads or build half the bridges that -commerce required. - -"Out of this condition grew the policy of granting charters to turnpike -companies, formed by well-to-do land-owners, who undertook to build -roads and maintain them in proper condition for the privilege of -imposing tolls. Men owning land and possessed of ready money, were -everywhere eager to invest in these enterprises. They not only saw the -promise of dividends, but ready sales for their lands. At one time an -amount of capital almost equal to the domestic debt of the nation when -the Revolution closed was thus employed throughout the country. By the -year 1811, no fewer than 137 roads had been chartered in New York State -alone, with a total length of 4,500 miles and a total capital of -$7,500,000. About one-third of this mileage was eventually completed. - -"Eight turnpikes went out from Albany, and five others joined Catskill, -Kingston, and Newburg with the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers. The -earliest of these five, and one of the earliest in the State, was the -Catskill and Susquehanna turnpike, that supplanted the primitive State -road to Wattles's Ferry. The old course was changed in several -localities, the charter permitting the stockholders to choose their -route. Among the names in the charter were John Livingston, Caleb Benton -(a brother of Stephen Benton), John Kortright, Sluman Wattles, and -Solomon Martin. The stock was limited to $12,000 in shares of $20 each. - -"The road ran through lands owned by the stockholders. Little regard was -had for grades, as travellers well know. The main purpose was to make -the land accessible and marketable. The road was completed in 1802, and -soon became a famous highway to Central New York, and the navigable -Susquehanna, and so remained for more than a quarter of a century. It -was in operation four years earlier than the Great Western Turnpike, -connecting Albany with Buffalo and running through Cherry Valley. -Spafford in 1813 described it as 'the Appian Way turnpike,' in which it -seems the pride felt in it, likened as it thus was to one of the best -roads ever built by man--that Roman highway which still does service -after the lapse of more than 2,000 years. In one sense this turnpike was -like a Roman road: it followed straight lines from point to point -regardless of hills, obstacles being squarely faced and defied by these -modern men as by the old Romans. - -"Ten toll-gates were set up along the line, with the rates as follows: -for twenty sheep and hogs, eight cents; for twenty horses and cattle, -twenty cents; for a horse and rider, five cents; for a horse and chaise, -twelve and one-half cents; for a coach or chariot, twenty-five cents; -for a stage or wagon, twelve and one-half cents. In 1804, Caleb Benton, -who lived in Catskill, was president of the corporation, and in 1805 the -stage business of the road was granted as a monopoly to David Bostwick, -Stephen Benton, Lemuel Hotchkiss, and Terence Donnelly. Two stages were -to be kept regularly on the road, the fare to be five cents per mile. A -stage that left Catskill Wednesday morning reached Unadilla Friday -night, and one that left Unadilla Sunday reached Catskill Tuesday. The -most prosperous period for the road was the ten years from 1820 to 1830. - -"Two years after the road was built, Dr. Timothy Dwight, President of -Yale College, during one of his regular vacation journeys, passed over -it and stopped at Unadilla. He has left a full record of the journey. -Dr. Dwight, accustomed long to the comforts of life in New England, had -no sooner crossed the State line from Massachusetts to New York than he -observed a change. The houses became ordinary and ill repaired, and very -many of them were taverns of wretched appearance. - -"For sixteen or eighteen miles, he saw neither church nor school-house. -Catskill contained about 100 houses, and much of the business was done -by barter. The turnpike to the Susquehanna he described as a 'branch of -the Greenwood turnpike from Hartford to Albany, commencing from Canaan -in Connecticut and passing to Wattles's Ferry on the Susquehanna. Thence -it is proposed to extend it to the county of Trumbull on the southern -shore of Lake Erie.' The road he thought 'well made.' - -"Connecticut families were found settled along the line. Now he came -upon 'a few lonely plantations recently begun upon the road,' and then -'occasionally passed a cottage, and heard the distant sound of an axe -and of a human voice. All else was grandeur, gloom and solitude.' At -last after many miles of riding he reached a settlement 'for some miles -a thinly built village, composed of neat, tidy houses,' in which -everything 'indicated prosperity.' This was Franklin. Coming down the -Ouleout, the country, he said, 'wore a forbidding aspect, the houses -being thinly scattered and many of them denoted great poverty.' - -"When Dr. Dwight reached Wattles's Ferry, the more serious trials of his -journey began. All the privations of life in a new country which he had -met on the road from Catskill at last had overtaxed his patience, and he -poured forth his perturbed spirit upon this infant settlement. When he -made a second visit a few years later he liked the place much better. -His first impressions are chronicled at some length. He says: - -"'When we arrived at the Susquehanna we found the only inn-keeper, at -the eastern side of the river, unable to furnish us a dinner. To obtain -this indispensable article we were obliged therefore to cross the river. -The ferry-boat was gone. The inhabitants had been some time employed in -building a bridge, but it was unfinished and impassable. There was -nothing left us, therefore, but to cross a deep and rapid ford. Happily -the bottom was free from rocks and stones.' - -"Dr. Dwight appears to have found no satisfactory stopping-place in -Unadilla, and proceeds to say: - -"'About four miles from the ferry we came to an inn kept by a Scotchman -named Hanna. Within this distance we called at several others, none of -which could furnish us a dinner. I call them inns because this name is -given them by the laws of the State, and because each of them hangs out -a sign challenging this title. But the law has nicknamed them, and the -signs are liars. - -"'It is said, and I suppose truly, that in this State any man who will -pay for an inn-keeper's license obtains one of course. In consequence of -this practice the number of houses which bear the appellation is -enormous. Too many of them are mere dramshops of no other use than to -deceive, disappoint and vex travellers and to spread little circles of -drunkenness throughout the State. A traveller after passing from inn to -inn in a tedious succession finds that he can get nothing for his horse -and nothing for himself.' - -"The remedy he prescribed for this was to license 'only one inn where -there are five or six.' The evil was general. In 1810 the people of -Meredith made a formal and vigorous protest against the growth of -intemperance and crime as caused by public houses. There were ten hotels -in that town alone, besides a number of distilleries. Many citizens -banded themselves in behalf of order and decency, and their protest -abounded in an energy of language that would have delighted the soul of -Dr. Dwight. Of his further experience at Mr. Hanna's hotel, he says: - -"'We at length procured a dinner and finding no house at a proper -distance where we could be lodged concluded to stay where we were. Our -fare was indeed bad enough, but we were sheltered from the weather. Our -inn-keeper besides furnishing us with such other accommodations as his -home afforded, added to it the pleasures of his company and plainly -considered himself as doing us no small favor. In that peculiar -situation in which the tongue vibrates with its utmost ease and -celerity, he repeated to us a series of anecdotes dull and vulgar in the -extreme. Yet they all contained a seasoning which was exquisite, for -himself was in every case the hero of the tale. To add to our amusement, -he called for the poems of Allan Ramsay and read several of them to us -in what he declared to be the true Scottish pronunciation, laughing -incessantly and with great self-complacency as he proceeded.' - -"Dr. Dwight remarks that 'a new turnpike road is begun from the ferry -and intended to join the Great Western road either at Cayuga bridge or -Canandaigua. This route will furnish a nearer journey to Niagara than -that which is used at present.' We see from this what were the plans of -that day, as to the future central highway of New York State. Of -Unadilla Dr. Dwight says: - -"'That township in which we now were is named Unadilla and lies in the -county of Otsego. It is composed of rough hills and valleys with a -handsome collection of intervales along the Susquehanna. On a -remarkably ragged eminence immediately north-west of the river, we saw -the first oaks and chestnuts after leaving the neighborhood of Catskill. -The intervening forests were beach, maple, etc. The houses in Unadilla -were scattered along the road which runs parallel with the river. The -settlement is new and appears like most others of a similar date. Rafts -containing each from twenty to twenty-five thousand feet of boards are -from this township floated down the Susquehanna to Baltimore. Unadilla -contained in 1800 eight hundred and twenty-three inhabitants.'[44] - -"On September 27, 1804, Dr. Dwight left Mr. Hanna's inn and rode through -to Oxford. The first two miles of the way along the Susquehanna were -'tolerably good and with a little labor capable of being excellent.' He -continues: - -"'We then crossed the Unadilla, a river somewhat smaller but -considerable longer (sic) than the Susquehanna proper, quite as deep -and as difficult to be forded. Our course to the river was south-west. -We then turned directly north along the banks of the Unadilla, and -travelling over a rugged hill, passed through a noble cluster of white -pines, some of which though not more than three feet in diameter, were, -as I judged, not less than 200 feet in height. No object in the -vegetable world can be compared with this.' - -"Eleven years later, Dr. Dwight again passed over the turnpike on his -way to Utica. 'The road from Catskill to Oxford,' he said, 'I find -generally bad, as having been long neglected. The first twenty miles -were tolerable, the last twenty absolutely intolerable.' After noting -that in Franklin 'religion had extensively prevailed,' he wrote: - -"'Unadilla is becoming a very pretty village. It is built on a -delightful ground along the Susquehanna and the number of houses, -particularly of good ones, has much increased. A part of the country -between this and Oxford is cultivated; a considerable part of it is -still a wilderness. The country is rough and of a high elevation.' - -"In some reminiscences[45] which my father wrote in 1890, he described -the scenes along this road that were familiar to him in boyhood at -Kortright--1825 to 1835. The road was then in its most prosperous -period. It was not uncommon for one of the hotels, which marked every -few miles of the route, to entertain thirty or forty guests at a time. -The freight wagons were huge in size, drawn by six and eight horses, and -had wheels with wide tires. Stages drawn by four and six horses were -continually in use. Not infrequently came families bound for Ohio, where -they expected to settle--some of these Connecticut people, who helped to -plant the Western Reserve settlements. This vast traffic brought easy -prosperity to the people along the turnpike and built up towns and -villages. My father records the success of the Rev. Mr. McAuley's church -at Kortright--a place that has now retrograded so that it is only a -small hamlet, just capable of retaining a post office. But Mr. -McAuley's church at one time, more than sixty years ago, had five -hundred members, and was said to be the largest church society west of -the Hudson valley. - -"A change occurred with the digging of the Erie Canal and the building -of the Erie Railway. Morever, in 1834 was built a turnpike from North -Kortright through the Charlotte Valley to Oneonta. The white man having -tried a route of his own over the hills, reverted to the route which the -red man had marked out for him ages before. Much easier was the grade by -this river road, and this fact exercised a marked influence on the -fortunes of the settlements along the olden line. Freight wagons were -drawn off and sent by the easier way. Stages followed the new turnpike -and the country between Wattles's Ferry and Kortright retrograded as -rapidly as it had formerly improved.[46] - -"The building of the Catskill Turnpike really led to the founding of -Unadilla village on its present site. It had confined to this point a -growth which otherwise would probably have been distributed among other -points along the valley. Here was a stopping-place, with a river to be -crossed, horses to be changed, and new stages taken, and here had been -established the important market for country produce of Noble & Hayes. -Unadilla became what might be called a small but thriving inland river -port. Here lumber was sawed and here it came from mills elsewhere for -shipment along with farm products to Baltimore. Here grain was ground, -and here were three prosperous distilleries. - -"The building of the turnpike along the Charlotte was not the only blow -that came to the western portion of the Catskill Road. Another and -permanent one came to the whole length of the turnpike when the Erie -Canal was built, followed later by the Erie Railroad. Otsego County, in -1832, had reached a population of 52,370, but with the Erie Canal in -operation it ceased to grow. At the present time the showing is -considerably less than it was in 1832, and yet several villages have -made large increases, the increase in Oneonta being probably tenfold. - -"Contemporary with the Erie Canal was an attempt to provide the -Susquehanna with a canal. It became a subject of vast local interest -from Cooperstown to the interior of Pennsylvania. The scheme included a -railway, or some other method of reaching the Erie Canal from the head -of Otsego Lake. Colonel De Witt Clinton, Jr., son of the governor, made -a survey as far as Milford, and found that in nine miles there was a -fall of thirty feet, and that at Unadilla the fall from the lake was 150 -feet, while in 110 miles from the lake it was 350 feet. In 1830 a new -survey showed that 144 miles out of 153 were already navigable, the -remaining distance requiring a canal. Some seventy locks would be needed -and sixty-five dams. Judge Page, while a member of Congress, introduced -a bill to aid slack-water navigation from Cooperstown to tide-water. It -was his opinion that the failure of the bill was due to the spread of -railroads. - -"With the ushering in of the great railroad era, the Susquehanna Valley -saw started as early as 1830 many railroad projects which could save it -from threatened danger. Their aim was to connect the upper Susquehanna -with the Hudson at Catskill, and the Mohawk at Canajoharie. None ever -got beyond the charter stage. Strenuous efforts were afterward made to -bring the Erie from the ancient Cookoze (Deposit) to the Susquehanna at -a point above Oghwaga, but this also failed. - -"Indeed it was not until after the Civil War that any railroad reached -the headwaters of the Susquehanna; but it was an agreeable sign of the -enterprise which attended the men of 1830 and following years that at -the period when the earliest railroad in this State, and one of the -earliest on this continent, had just been built from Albany to -Schenectady, serious projects existed for opening this valley to the -outer world. Even the great Erie project languished long in consequence -of business depression. It was not until 1845 that it was completed as -far as Middletown, and not until 1851 that it reached Dunkirk. - -"Not even to the Erie was final supremacy on this frontier assured, but -the upper Susquehanna lands, more than those through which the Erie ran, -were doomed to a condition of isolation. Nature itself had decreed that -the great route of transportation in New York State was to run where the -great trail of the Iroquois for centuries had run--through the Mohawk -Valley. Along that central trail from Albany, 'the Eastern Door,' to -Buffalo, 'the Western door of the Long House,' the course of empire -westward was to take its way." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -WITH DICKENS ALONG PIONEER ROADS - - -Some of the most interesting descriptions of pioneer traveling are from -the racy pages of Charles Dickens's _American Notes_, a volume well -known to every reader. No description of early traveling in America -would be complete, however, without including a number of these -extremely witty, and, in some instances, extremely pathetic descriptions -of conditions that obtained in Virginia and Ohio in Dickens's day. The -following description of a negro driver's manipulation of reins, horses, -and passengers may be slightly exaggerated, but undoubtedly presents a -typical picture of southern stage driving: - -"Soon after nine o'clock we come to Potomac Creek, where we are to land; -and then comes the oddest part of the journey. Seven stage-coaches are -preparing to carry us on. Some of them are ready, some of them are not -ready. Some of the drivers are blacks, some whites. There are four -horses to each coach, and all the horses, harnessed or unharnessed, are -there. The passengers are getting out of the steamboat, and into the -coaches, the luggage is being transferred in noisy wheel-barrows; the -horses are frightened, and impatient to start; the black drivers are -chattering to them like so many monkeys; and the white ones whooping -like so many drovers: for the main thing to be done in all kinds of -hostlering here, is to make as much noise as possible. The coaches are -something like the French coaches, but not nearly so good. In lieu of -springs, they are hung on bands of the strongest leather. There is very -little choice or difference between them; and they may be likened to the -car portion of the swings at an English fair, roofed, put upon -axle-trees and wheels, and curtained with painted canvas. They are -covered with mud from the roof to the wheel-tire, and have never been -cleaned since they were first built. - -"The tickets we have received on board the steamboat are marked No. 1, -so we belong to coach No. 1. I throw my coat on the box, and hoist my -wife and her maid into the inside. It has only one step, and that being -about a yard from the ground, is usually approached by a chair: when -there is no chair, ladies trust in Providence. The coach holds nine -inside, having a seat across from door to door, where we in England put -our legs: so that there is only one feat more difficult in the -performance than getting in, and that is getting out again. There is -only one outside passenger, and he sits upon the box. As I am that one, -I climb up; and while they are strapping the luggage on the roof, and -heaping it into a kind of tray behind, have a good opportunity of -looking at the driver. - -"He is a negro--very black indeed. He is dressed in a coarse -pepper-and-salt suit excessively patched and darned (particularly at the -knees), grey stockings, enormous unblacked high-low shoes, and very -short trousers. He has two odd gloves: one of parti-coloured worsted, -and one of leather. He has a very short whip, broken in the middle and -bandaged up with string. And yet he wears a low-crowned, broad-brimmed, -block hat: faintly shadowing forth a kind of insane imitation of an -English coachman! But somebody in authority cries 'Go ahead!' as I am -making these observations. The mail takes the lead in a four-horse -wagon, and all the coaches follow in procession: headed by No. 1. - -"By the way, whenever an Englishman would cry 'All right!' an American -cries 'Go ahead!' which is somewhat expressive of the national character -of the two countries. - -"The first half mile of the road is over bridges made of loose planks -laid across two parallel poles, which tilt up as the wheels roll over -them: and IN the river. The river has a clayey bottom and is full of -holes, so that half a horse is constantly disappearing unexpectedly, and -can't be found again for some time. - -"But we get past even this, and come to the road itself, which is a -series of alternate swamps and gravel-pits. A tremendous place is close -before us, the black driver rolls his eyes, screws his mouth up very -round, and looks straight between the two leaders, as if he were saying -to himself, 'We have done this often before, but _now_ I think we shall -have a crash.' He takes a rein in each hand; jerks and pulls at both; -and dances on the splashing board with both feet (keeping his seat, of -course) like the late lamented Ducrow on two of his fiery coursers. We -come to the spot, sink down in the mire nearly to the coach windows, -tilt on one side at an angle of forty-five degrees, and stick there. The -insides scream dismally; the coach stops; the horses flounder; all the -other six coaches stop; and their four-and-twenty horses flounder -likewise: but merely for company, and in sympathy with ours. Then the -following circumstances occur. - -"BLACK DRIVER (to the horses). 'Hi!' - -Nothing happens. Insides scream again. - -BLACK DRIVER (to the horses). 'Ho!' - -Horses plunge, and splash the black driver. - -GENTLEMAN INSIDE (looking out). 'Why, what on airth--' - -Gentleman receives a variety of splashes and draws his head in again, -without finishing his question or waiting for an answer. - -BLACK DRIVER (still to the horses). 'Jiddy! Jiddy!' - -Horses pull violently, drag the coach out of the hole, and draw it up a -bank; so steep, that the black driver's legs fly up into the air, and he -goes back among the luggage on the roof. But he immediately recovers -himself, and cries (still to the horses), - -'Pill!' - -No effect. On the contrary, the coach begins to roll back upon No. 2, -which rolls back upon No. 3, which rolls back upon No. 4, and so on, -until No. 7 is heard to curse and swear, nearly a quarter of a mile -behind. - -BLACK DRIVER (louder than before). 'Pill!' - -Horses make another struggle to get up the bank, and again the coach -rolls backward. - -BLACK DRIVER (louder than before). 'Pe-e-e-ill!' - -Horses make a desperate struggle. - -BLACK DRIVER (recovering spirits). 'Hi! Jiddy, Jiddy, Pill!' - -Horses make another effort. - -BLACK DRIVER (with great vigour). 'Ally Loo! Hi. Jiddy, Jiddy. Pill. -Ally Loo!' - -Horses almost do it. - -BLACK DRIVER (with his eyes starting out of his head). 'Lee, dere. Lee, -dere. Hi. Jiddy, Jiddy. Pill. Ally Loo. Lee-e-e-e-e!' - -"They run up the bank, and go down again on the other side at a fearful -pace. It is impossible to stop them, and at the bottom there is a deep -hollow, full of water. The coach rolls frightfully. The insides scream. -The mud and water fly about us. The black driver dances like a madman. -Suddenly we are all right by some extraordinary means, and stop to -breathe. - -"A black friend of the black driver is sitting on a fence. The black -driver recognizes him by twirling his head round and round like a -harlequin, rolling his eyes, shrugging his shoulders, and grinning from -ear to ear. He stops short, turns to me, and says: - -"'We shall get you through sa, like a fiddle, and hope a please you when -we get you through sa. Old 'ooman at home sir:' chuckling very much. -'Outside gentleman sa, he often remember old 'ooman at home sa,' -grinning again. - -"'Aye aye, we'll take care of the old woman. Don't be afraid.' - -"The black driver grins again, but there is another hole, and beyond -that, another bank, close before us. So he stops short: cries (to the -horses again) 'Easy. Easy den. Ease. Steady. Hi. Jiddy. Pill. Ally. -Loo!' but never 'Lee!' until we are reduced to the very last extremity, -and are in the midst of difficulties, extrication from which appears to -be all but impossible. - -"And so we do the ten miles or thereabouts in two hours and a half; -breaking no bones though bruising a great many; and in short getting -through the distance, 'like a fiddle.' - -"This singular kind of coaching terminates at Fredericksburgh, whence -there is a railway to Richmond...." - -Dickens, the student of human nature, surely found vast material for -inspection and observation in our American coaches. The drivers -particularly attracted his attention as we have seen; their -philosophical indifference to those under their charge as well as their -anxieties on certain occasions caused him to marvel. The stage-drivers -of Dickens's day were marvels and offer character studies as unique as -they were interesting. For the general air of conscienceless -indifference on the part of drivers, and exasperated verbosity of -passengers, perhaps no sketch of Dickens is more to the point than the -following which describes, with lasting flavor, a ride from York, -Pennsylvania, to Harrisburg: - -"We left Baltimore by another railway at half-past eight in the morning, -and reached the town of York, some sixty miles off, by the early -dinner-time of the Hotel which was the starting-place of the four-horse -coach, wherein we were to proceed to Harrisburg. - -"This conveyance, the box of which I was fortunate enough to secure, had -come down to meet us at the railroad station, and was as muddy and -cumbersome as usual. As more passengers were waiting for us at the -inn-door, the coachman observed under his breath, in the usual -self-communicative voice, looking the while at his mouldy harness, as -if it were to that he was addressing himself: - -"'I expect we shall want _the big_ coach.' - -"I could not help wondering within myself what the size of this big -coach might be, and how many persons it might be designed to hold; for -the vehicle which was too small for our purpose was something larger -than two English heavy night coaches, and might have been the -twin-brother of a French diligence. My speculations were speedily set at -rest, however, for as soon as we had dined, there came rumbling up the -street, shaking its sides like a corpulent giant, a kind of barge on -wheels. After much blundering and backing, it stopped at the door: -rolling heavily from side to side when its other motion had ceased, as -if it had taken cold in its damp stable, and between that, and the -having been required in its dropsical old age to move at any faster pace -than a walk, were distressed by shortness of wind. - -"'If here ain't the Harrisburg mail at last, and dreadful bright and -smart to look at too,' cried an elderly gentleman in some excitement, -'darn my mother!' - -"I don't know what the sensation of being darned may be, or whether a -man's mother has a keener relish or disrelish of the process than -anybody else; but if the endurance of this mysterious ceremony by the -old lady in question had depended on the accuracy of her son's vision in -respect to the abstract brightness and smartness of the Harrisburg mail, -she would certainly have undergone its infliction. However, they booked -twelve people inside; and the luggage (including such trifles as a large -rocking-chair, and a good-sized dining-table), being at length made fast -upon the roof, we started off in great state. - -"At the door of another hotel, there was another passenger to be taken -up. - -"'Any room, sir?' cries the new passenger to the coachman. - -"'Well there's room enough,' replies the coachman, without getting down, -or even looking at him. - -"'There an't no room at all, sir,' bawls a gentleman inside. Which -another gentleman (also inside) confirms, by predicting that the attempt -to introduce any more passengers 'won't fit nohow.' - -"The new passenger, without any expression of anxiety, looks into the -coach, and then looks up at the coachman: 'Now, how do you mean to fix -it?' says he, after a pause: 'for I _must_ go.' - -"The coachman employs himself in twisting the lash of his whip into a -knot, and takes no more notice of the question: clearly signifying that -it is anybody's business but his, and that the passengers would do well -to fix it, among themselves. In this state of things, matters seem to be -approximating to a fix of another kind, when another inside passenger in -a corner, who is nearly suffocated, cries faintly, - -"'I'll get out.' - -"This is no matter of relief or self-congratulation to the driver, for -his immoveable philosophy is perfectly undisturbed by anything that -happens in the coach. Of all things in the world, the coach would seem -to be the very last upon his mind. The exchange is made, however, and -then the passenger who has given up his seat makes a third upon the box, -seating himself in what he calls the middle: that is, with half his -person on my legs, and the other half on the driver's. - -"'Go a-head cap'en,' cries the colonel, who directs. - -"'Go-lang!' cries the cap'en to his company, the horses, and away we go. - -"We took up at a rural bar-room, after we had gone a few miles, an -intoxicated gentleman who climbed upon the roof among the luggage, and -subsequently slipping off without hurting himself, was seen in the -distant perspective reeling back to the grog-shop where we had found -him. We also parted with more of our freight at different times, so that -when we came to change horses, I was again alone outside. - -"The coachmen always change with the horses, and are usually as dirty as -the coach. The first was dressed like a very shabby English baker; the -second like a Russian peasant; for he wore a loose purple camlet robe -with a fur collar, tied round his waist with a parti-coloured worsted -sash; grey trousers; light blue gloves; and a cap of bearskin. It had by -this time come on to rain very heavily, and there was a cold damp mist -besides, which penetrated to the skin. I was very glad to take advantage -of a stoppage and get down to stretch my legs, shake the water off my -great-coat, and swallow the usual anti-temperance recipe for keeping out -the cold.... - -"We crossed this river [Susquehanna] by a wooden bridge, roofed and -covered in on all sides, and nearly a mile in length. It was profoundly -dark; perplexed, with great beams, crossing and recrossing it at every -possible angle; and through the broad chinks and crevices in the floor, -the rapid river gleamed, far down below, like a legion of eyes. We had -no lamps; and as the horses stumbled and floundered through this place, -towards the distant speck of dying light, it seemed interminable. I -really could not at first persuade myself as we rumbled heavily on, -filling the bridge with hollow noises, and I held down my head to save -it from the rafters above, but that I was in a painful dream; for I have -often dreamed of toiling through such places, and as often argued, even -at the time, 'this cannot be reality.' - -"At length, however, we emerged upon the streets of Harrisburg...." - -Coachmen are further described by Dickens during his stagecoach trip -from Cincinnati to Columbus in Ohio: - -"We often stop to water at a roadside inn, which is always dull and -silent. The coachman dismounts and fills his bucket, and holds it to the -horses' heads. There is scarcely any one to help him; there are seldom -any loungers standing round; and never any stable-company with jokes to -crack. Sometimes, when we have changed our team, there is a difficulty -in starting again, arising out of the prevalent mode of breaking a young -horse; which is to catch him, harness him against his will, and put him -in a stage-coach without further notice: but we get on somehow or other, -after a great many kicks and a violent struggle; and jog on as before -again. - -"Occasionally, when we stop to change, some two or three half-drunken -loafers will come loitering out with their hands in their pockets, or -will be seen kicking their heels in rocking-chairs, or lounging on the -window sill, or sitting on a rail within the colonnade: they have not -often anything to say though, either to us or to each other, but sit -there idly staring at the coach and horses. The landlord of the inn is -usually among them, and seems, of all the party, to be the least -connected with the business of the house. Indeed he is with reference to -the tavern, what the driver is in relation to the coach and passengers: -whatever happens in his sphere of action, he is quite indifferent, and -perfectly easy in his mind. - -"The frequent change of coachmen works no change or variety in the -coachman's character. He is always dirty, sullen, and taciturn. If he be -capable of smartness of any kind, moral or physical, he has a faculty of -concealing it which is truly marvellous. He never speaks to you as you -sit beside him on the box, and if you speak to him, he answers (if at -all) in monosyllables. He points out nothing on the road, and seldom -looks at anything: being, to all appearance, thoroughly weary of it, and -of existence generally. As to doing the honours of his coach, his -business, as I have said, is with the horses. The coach follows because -it is attached to them and goes on wheels: not because you are in it. -Sometimes, towards the end of a long stage, he suddenly breaks out into -a discordant fragment of an election song, but his face never sings -along with him: it is only his voice, and not often that. - -"He always chews and always spits, and never encumbers himself with a -pocket-handkerchief. The consequences to the box passenger, especially -when the wind blows toward him, are not agreeable." - -Hiring a special express coach at Columbus, Dickens and his party went -on to Sandusky on Lake Erie alone. His description of the rough, narrow -corduroy road is unequaled and no one but Dickens could have penned such -a thrilling picture of the half-conquered woodland and its spectral -inhabitants: - -"There being no stage-coach next day, upon the road we wished to take, I -hired 'an extra,' at a reasonable charge, to carry us to Tiffin, a small -town from whence there is a railroad to Sandusky. This extra was an -ordinary four-horse stage-coach, such as I have described, changing -horses and drivers, as the stage-coach would, but was exclusively our -own for the journey. To ensure our having horses at the proper stations, -and being incommoded by no strangers, the proprietors sent an agent on -the box, who was to accompany us all the way through; and thus attended, -and bearing with us, besides, a hamper full of savoury cold meats, and -fruit, and wine; we started off again, in high spirits, at half-past six -o'clock next morning, very much delighted to be by ourselves, and -disposed to enjoy even the roughest journey. - -"It was well for us, that we were in this humour, for the road we went -over that day, was certainly enough to have shaken tempers that were not -resolutely at Set Fair, down to some inches below Stormy. At one time we -were all flung together in a heap at the bottom of the coach, and at -another we were crushing our heads against the roof. Now, one side was -down deep in the mire, and we were holding on to the other. Now, the -coach was lying on the tails of the two wheelers; and now it was rearing -up in the air, in a frantic state, with all four horses standing on the -top of an insurmountable eminence, looking coolly back at it, as though -they would say 'Unharness us. It can't be done.' The drivers on these -roads, who certainly get over the ground in a manner which is quite -miraculous, so twist and turn the team about in forcing a passage, -corkscrew fashion, through the bogs and swamps, that it was quite a -common circumstance on looking out of the window, to see the coachman -with the ends of a pair of reins in his hands, apparently driving -nothing, or playing at horses, and the leaders staring at one -unexpectedly from the back of the coach, as if they had some idea of -getting up behind. A great portion of the way was over what is called a -corduroy road, which is made by throwing trunks of trees into a marsh, -and leaving them to settle there. The very slightest of the jolts with -which the ponderous carriage fell from log to log, was enough, it -seemed, to have dislocated all the bones in the human body. It would be -impossible to experience a similar set of sensations, in any other -circumstances, unless perhaps in attempting to go up to the top of St. -Paul's in an omnibus. Never, never once, that day, was the coach in any -position, attitude, or kind of motion to which we are accustomed in -coaches. Never did it make the smallest approach to one's experience of -the proceedings of any sort of vehicle that goes on wheels. - -"Still, it was a fine day, and the temperature was delicious, and though -we had left Summer behind us in the west, and were fast leaving Spring, -we were moving towards Niagara and home. We alighted in a pleasant wood -towards the middle of the day, dined on a fallen tree, and leaving our -best fragments with a cottager, and our worst with the pigs (who swarm -in this part of the country like grains of sand on the sea-shore, to the -great comfort of our commissariat in Canada), we went forward again, -gaily. - -"As night came on, the track grew narrower and narrower, until at last -it so lost itself among the trees, that the driver seemed to find his -way by instinct. We had the comfort of knowing, at least, that there was -no danger of his falling asleep, for every now and then a wheel would -strike against an unseen stump with such a jerk, that he was fain to -hold on pretty tight and pretty quick to keep himself upon the box. Nor -was there any reason to dread the least danger from furious driving, -inasmuch as over that broken ground the horses had enough to do to walk; -as to shying, there was no room for that; and a herd of wild elephants -could not have run away in such a wood, with such a coach at their -heels. So we stumbled along, quite satisfied. - -"These stumps of trees are a curious feature in American travelling. The -varying illusions they present to the unaccustomed eye as it grows dark, -are quite astonishing in their number and reality. Now, there is a -Grecian urn erected in the centre of a lonely field; now there is a -woman weeping at a tomb; now a very comonplace old gentleman in a white -waist-coat, with a thumb thrust into each arm-hole of his coat; now a -student poring on a book; now a crouching negro; now, a horse, a dog, a -cannon, an armed man; a hunch-back throwing off his cloak and stepping -forth into the light. They were often as entertaining to me as so many -glasses in a magic lantern, and never took their shapes at my bidding, -but seemed to force themselves upon me, whether I would or no; and -strange to say, I sometimes recognized in them counterparts of figures -once familiar to me in pictures attached to childish books, forgotten -long ago. - -"It soon became too dark, however, even for this amusement, and the -trees were so close together that their dry branches rattled against the -coach on either side, and obliged us all to keep our heads within. It -lightened too, for three whole hours; each flash being very bright, and -blue, and long; and as the vivid streaks came darting in among the -crowded branches, and the thunder rolled gloomily above the tree tops, -one could scarcely help thinking that there were better neighbourhoods -at such a time than thick woods afforded. - -"At length, between ten and eleven o'clock at night, a few feeble lights -appeared in the distance, and Upper Sandusky, an Indian village, where -we were to stay till morning, lay before us." - -Dickens's description of his visit to "Looking-Glass Prairie" from St. -Louis is full of amusement, and contains many vivid pictures of pioneer -roads and taverns in the Mississippi Valley: - -"As I had a great desire to see a Prairie before turning back from the -furthest point of my wanderings; and as some gentlemen of the town had, -in their hospitable consideration, an equal desire to gratify me; a day -was fixed, before my departure, for an expedition to the Looking-Glass -Prairie, which is within thirty miles of the town. Deeming it possible -that my readers may not object to know what kind of thing such a gipsy -party may be at that distance from home, and among what sort of objects -it moves, I will describe the jaunt.... - -"I may premise that the word Prairie is variously pronounced _paraaer_, -_parearer_, and _paroarer_. The latter mode of pronunciation is perhaps -the most in favour. We were fourteen in all, and all young men: indeed -it is a singular though very natural feature in the society of these -distant settlements, that it is mainly composed of adventurous persons -in the prime of life, and has very few grey heads among it. There were -no ladies: the trip being a fatiguing one: and we were to start at five -o'clock in the morning punctually.... - -"At seven o'clock ... the party had assembled, and were gathered round -one light carriage, with a very stout axletree; one something on wheels -like an amateur carrier's cart; one double phaeton of great antiquity -and unearthly construction; one gig with a great hole in its back and a -broken head; and one rider on horseback who was to go on before. I got -into the first coach with three companions; the rest bestowed themselves -in the other vehicles; two large baskets were made fast to the lightest; -two large stone jars in wicker cases, technically known as demi-johns, -were consigned to the 'least rowdy' of the party for safe keeping; and -the procession moved off to the ferry-boat, in which it was to cross the -river bodily, men, horses, carriages, and all as the manner in these -parts is. - -"We got over the river in due course, and mustered again before a little -wooden box on wheels, hove down all aslant in a morass, with 'MERCHANT -TAILOR' painted in very large letters over the door. Having settled the -order of proceeding, and the road to be taken, we started off once more -and began to make our way through an ill-favoured Black Hollow, called, -less expressively, the American Bottom.... - -"We had a pair of very strong horses, but travelled at the rate of -little more than a couple of miles an hour, through one unbroken slough -of black mud and water. It had no variety but in depth. Now it was only -half over the wheels, now it hid the axletree, and now the coach sank -down in it almost to the windows. The air resounded in all directions -with the loud chirping of the frogs, who, with the pigs (a coarse, ugly -breed, as unwholesome-looking as though they were the spontaneous growth -of the country), had the whole scene to themselves. Here and there we -passed a log hut; but the wretched cabins were wide apart and thinly -scattered, for though the soil is very rich in this place, few people -can exist in such a deadly atmosphere. On either side of the track, if -it deserve the name, was the thick 'bush;' and everywhere was stagnant, -slimy, rotten, filthy water. - -"As it is the custom in these parts to give a horse a gallon or so of -cold water whenever he is in a foam with heat, we halted for that -purpose, at a log inn in the wood, far removed from any other residence. -It consisted of one room, bare-roofed and bare-walled of course, with a -loft above. The ministering priest was a swarthy young savage, in a -shirt of cotton print like bed-furniture, and a pair of ragged trousers. -There were a couple of young boys, too, nearly naked, lying idly by the -well; and they, and he, and _the_ traveller at the inn, turned out to -look at us.... - -"When the horses were swollen out to about twice their natural -dimensions (there seems to be an idea here, that this kind of inflation -improves their going), we went forward again, through mud and mire, and -damp, and festering heat, and brake and bush, attended always by the -music of the frogs and pigs, until nearly noon, when we halted at a -place called Belleville. - -"Belleville was a small collection of wooden houses, huddled together in -the very heart of the bush and swamp.... The criminal court was -sitting, and was at that moment trying some criminals for -horse-stealing; with whom it would most likely go hard: for live stock -of all kinds being necessarily very much exposed in the woods, is held -by the community in rather higher value than human life; and for this -reason, juries generally make a point of finding all men indicted for -cattle-stealing, guilty, whether or no. The horses belonging to the bar, -the judge, and witnesses, were tied to temporary racks set up roughly in -the road; by which is to be understood, a forest path, nearly knee-deep -in mud and slime. - -"There was an hotel in this place which, like all hotels in America, had -its large dining-room for the public table. It was an odd, shambling, -low-roofed out-house, half cowshed and half kitchen, with a coarse brown -canvas table-cloth, and tin sconces stuck against the walls, to hold -candles at supper-time. The horseman had gone forward to have coffee and -some eatables prepared, and they were by this time nearly ready. He had -ordered 'wheat-bread and chicken fixings,' in preference to 'corn-bread -and common doings.'[47] The latter kind of refection includes only pork -and bacon. The former comprehends broiled ham, sausages, veal cutlets, -steaks, and such other viands of that nature as may be supposed, by a -tolerably wide poetical construction, 'to fix' a chicken comfortably in -the digestive organs of any lady or gentleman.... - -"From Belleville, we went on, through the same desolate kind of waste, -and constantly attended, without the interval of a moment, by the same -music; until, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we halted once more at -a village called Lebanon to inflate the horses again, and give them some -corn besides: of which they stood much in need. Pending this ceremony, I -walked into the village, where I met a full sized dwelling-house coming -down-hill at a round trot, drawn by a score or more of oxen. The -public-house was so very clean and good a one, that the managers of the -jaunt resolved to return to it and put up there for the night, if -possible. This course decided on, and the horses being well refreshed, -we again pushed forward, and came upon the Prairie at sunset. - -"It would be difficult to say why, or how--though it was possibly from -having heard and read so much about it--but the effect on me was -disappointment. Looking towards the setting sun, there lay, stretched -out before my view, a vast expanse of level ground; unbroken, save by -one thin line of trees, which scarcely amounted to a scratch upon the -great blank; until it met the glowing sky, wherein it seemed to dip: -mingling with its rich colours, and mellowing in its distant blue. There -it lay, a tranquil sea or lake without water, if such a simile be -admissible, with the day going down upon it; a few birds wheeling here -and there; and solitude and silence reigning paramount around. But the -grass was not yet high; there were bare black patches on the ground; and -the few wild flowers that the eye could see, were poor and scanty. Great -as the picture was, its very flatness and extent, which left nothing to -the imagination, tamed it down and cramped its interest. I felt little -of that sense of freedom and exhilaration which a Scottish heath -inspires, or even our English downs awaken. It was lonely and wild, but -oppressive in its barren monotony. I felt that in traversing the -Prairies, I could never abandon myself to the scene, forgetful of all -else; as I should do instinctively, were the heather underneath my feet, -or an iron-bound coast beyond; but should often glance towards the -distant and frequently-receding line of the horizon, and wish it gained -and passed. It is not a scene to be forgotten, but it is scarcely one, I -think (at all events, as I saw it), to remember with much pleasure, or -to covet the looking-on again, in after life. - -"We encamped near a solitary log-house, for the sake of its water, and -dined upon the plain. The baskets contained roast fowls, buffalo's -tongue (an exquisite dainty, by the way), ham, bread, cheese, and -butter; biscuits, champagne, sherry; lemons and sugar for punch; and -abundance of rough ice. The meal was delicious, and the entertainers -were the soul of kindness and good humour. I have often recalled that -cheerful party to my pleasant recollection since, and shall not easily -forget, in junketings nearer home with friends of older date, my boon -companions on the Prairie. Returning to Lebanon that night, we lay at -the little inn at which we had halted in the afternoon. In point of -cleanliness and comfort it would have suffered by no comparison with any -village ale-house, of a homely kind, in England.... - -"After breakfast, we started to return by a different way from that -which we had taken yesterday, and coming up at ten o'clock with an -encampment of German emigrants carrying their goods in carts, who had -made a rousing fire which they were just quitting, we stopped there to -refresh. And very pleasant the fire was; for, hot though it had been -yesterday, it was quite cold to-day, and the wind blew keenly. Looming -in the distance, as we rode along, was another of the ancient Indian -burial-places, called The Monks' Mound; in memory of a body of fanatics -of the order of La Trappe, who founded a desolate convent there, many -years ago, when there were no settlers within a thousand miles, and -were all swept off by the pernicious climate: in which lamentable -fatality, few rational people will suppose, perhaps, that society -experienced any very severe deprivation. - -"The track of to-day had the same features as the track of yesterday. -There was the swamp, the bush, the perpetual chorus of frogs, the rank -unseemly growth, the unwholesome steaming earth. Here and there, and -frequently too, we encountered a solitary broken-down waggon, full of -some new settler's goods. It was a pitiful sight to see one of these -vehicles deep in the mire; the axletree broken; the wheel lying idly by -its side; the man gone miles away, to look for assistance; the woman -seated among their wandering household gods with a baby at her breast, a -picture of forlorn, dejected patience; the team of oxen crouching down -mournfully in the mud, and breathing forth such clouds of vapour from -their mouths and nostrils, that all the damp mist and fog around seemed -to have come direct from them. - -"In due time we mustered once again before the merchant tailor's, and -having done so, crossed over to the city in the ferry-boat: passing, on -the way, a spot called Bloody Island, the duelling-ground of St. Louis, -and so designated in honour of the last fatal combat fought there, which -was with pistols, breast to breast. Both combatants fell dead upon the -ground; and possibly some rational people may think of them, as of the -gloomy madmen on the Monks' Mound, that they were no great loss to the -community." - - -For purposes of comparison, the following description of experiences in -later times with Indian trails of the West will be of interest. Much -that has been deduced from a study of our pioneer history and embodied -in the preceding pages finds strong confirmation here; in earlier days, -with forests covering the country, the trails were more like roads than -in the open prairies of the West; but, as will be seen, many laws -governed the earlier and the later Indian thoroughfares, alike. I quote -from the Hon. Charles Augustus Murray's memoirs, written three-quarters -of a century ago, of a tour in Missouri: - -"On the 18th we pursued our course, north by east: this was not exactly -the direction in which I wished to travel, but two considerations -induced me to adopt it at this part of the journey. In the first place, -it enabled me to keep along the dividing ridge; an advantage so great, -and so well understood by all prairie travellers, that it is worth -making a circuit of several miles a day to keep it; and the Indian -trails which we have crossed since our residence in the wilderness, -convince me that the savages pay the greatest attention to this matter. -In a wide extent of country composed of a succession of hills and -ridges, it is evident there must be a great number of steep banks, which -offer to an inexperienced traveller numerous obstacles, rendering his -own progress most toilsome, and that of loaded packhorses almost -impossible. If these ridges all ran in parallel lines, and were regular -in their formation, nothing would be more simple than to get upon the -summit of one, and keep it for the whole day's journey: but such is not -the case; they constantly meet other ridges running in a transverse -direction; and, of course, large dips and ravines are consequent upon -that meeting. The 'dividing ridge' of a district is that which, while it -is, as it were, the back-bone of the range of which it forms a part, -heads at the same time all the transverse ravines, whether on the right -or on the left hand, and thereby spares to the traveller an infinity of -toilsome ascent and descent. - -"I have sometimes observed that an Indian trail wound through a country -in a course perfectly serpentine, and appeared to me to travel three -miles when only one was necessary. It was not till my own practical -experience had made me attend more closely to this matter, that I learnt -to appreciate its importance. I think that the first quality in a guide -through an unknown range of rolling prairie, is having a good and a -quick eye for hitting off the 'dividing ridge;' the second, perhaps, in -a western wilderness, is a ready and almost intuitive perception (so -often found in an Indian) of the general character of a country, so as -to be able to bring his party to water when it is very scarce.... - -A few miles farther we crossed an old Indian trail I think it was of a -Pawnee party, for it bore north by west ... it had not been a war-party, -as was evident from the character of the trail. A war-party leaves only -the trail of the horses, or, of course, if it be a foot party, the still -slighter tracks of their own feet; but when they are on their summer -hunt, or migrating from one region to another, they take their squaws -and children with them, and this trail can always be distinguished from -the former, by two parallel tracks about three and a half feet apart, -not unlike those of a light pair of wheels: these are made by the points -of the long curved poles on which their lodges are stretched, the -thickest or butt ends of which are fastened to each side of the -pack-saddle, while the points trail behind the horse; in crossing rough -or boggy places, this is often found the most inconvenient part of an -Indian camp equipage.... I was fortunate enough to find an Indian trail -bearing north by east, which was as near to our destined course as these -odious creeks would permit us to go. We struck into it, and it brought -us safely, though not without difficulty, through the tangled and muddy -bottom in which we had been involved: sometimes a horse floundered, and -more than once a pack came off; but upon the whole we had great reason -to congratulate ourselves upon having found this trail, by which we -escaped in two hours from a place which would, without its assistance, -probably have detained us two days. I was by no means anxious to part -with so good a friend, and proceeded some miles upon this same trail; it -was very old and indistinct, especially in the high and dry parts of the -prairie. I left my horse with the rest of the party and went on foot, in -order that I might more easily follow the trail, which became almost -imperceptible as we reached an elevated district of table-land, which -had been burned so close that I very often lost the track altogether for -fifty yards. If a fire takes place on a prairie where there is already a -distinct trail, it is as easy to follow it, if not more so than before; -because the short and beaten grass offering no food to the fire, partly -escapes its fury, and remains a green line upon a sea of black; but if -the party making the trail pass over a prairie which is already burnt, -in the succeeding season when the new grass has grown, it can scarcely -be traced by any eye but that of an Indian.... After we had travelled -five hours ... I found that the trail which we had been following, -merged in another and a larger one, which appeared to run a point to the -west of north. This was so far out of our course that I hesitated -whether I should not leave it altogether; but, upon reflection, I -determined not to do so ... if I attempted to cross the country farther -to the eastward, without any trail, I should meet with serious -difficulties and delays.... I therefore struck into it, and ere long the -result justified my conjecture; for we came to a wooded bottom or -valley, which was such a complete jungle, and so extensive, that I am -sure, if we had not been guided by the trail, we could not have made our -way through it in a week. As it was, the task was no easy one; for the -trail, though originally large, was not very fresh, and the weeds and -branches had in many places so overgrown it, that I was obliged to -dismount and trace it out on foot. It wound about with a hundred -serpentine evolutions to avoid the heavy swamps and marshes around us; -and I repeatedly thought that, if we lost it, we never should extricate -our baggage: even with its assistance, we were obliged frequently to -halt and replace the packs, which were violently forced off by the -branches with which they constantly came in contact ... 'where on earth -is he taking us now?--why we are going back in the same direction as we -came!' I turned round and asked the speaker (a comrade) ... to point -with his finger to the quarter which he would make for if he were -guiding the party to Fort Leavenworth. He did so; and I took out my -compass and showed him that he was pointing south-west, _i.e._ to Santa -Fe and the Gulf of California: so completely had the poor fellow's head -become puzzled by the winding circuit we had made in the swamp."[48] - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - - -[1] Washington's _Journal_ Sept. 2nd to Oct. 4th, 1784. - -[2] _Historic Highways of America_, vol. v, ch. 3. - -[3] This creek rises in Hardy County, Virginia, and flows northeastward -through Hampshire County, entering the North Branch of the Potomac River -about eight miles southeast of Cumberland, Maryland. - -[4] Union Township, Monongalia County, West Virginia. - -[5] Oliphant's Iron Furnace, Union Township? - -[6] The mountainous boundary line between Monongalia and Preston -Counties. - -[7] Bruceton's Mills, Grant Township, Preston County, West Virginia? - -[8] Southwestern corner of Maryland, some twenty miles north of Oakland. - -[9] Briery Mountain runs northeast through the eastern edge of Preston -County, bounding Dunkard Bottom on the east as Cheat River bounds it on -the west. - -[10] The Friends were the earliest pioneers of Garrett County, John -Friend coming in 1760 bringing six sons among whom was this Charles. The -sons scattered about through the valley of the Youghiogheny, Charles -settling near the mouth of Sang Run, which cuts through Winding Ridge -Mountain and joins the Youghiogheny about fifteen miles due north from -Oakland. Washington, moving eastward on McCulloch's Path probably passed -through this gap in Winding Ridge. A present-day road runs parallel with -Winding Ridge from Friendsville (named from this pioneer family) -southward to near Altamont, which route seems to have been that pursued -by McCulloch's Path. See Scharf's _History of Western Maryland_, vol. -ii, p. 1518; _Atlas of Maryland_ (Baltimore, 1873), pp. 47-48; War Atlas -1861-65, _House Miscellaneous Documents_, vol. iv, part 2, No. 261, 52d -Cong. 1st Sess. 1891-92, Plate cxxxvi. - -[11] Great Back Bone Mountain, Garrett County, Maryland, on which, at -Altamont, the Baltimore and Ohio Railway reaches its highest altitude. -It was about here that Washington now crossed it, probably on the -watershed between Youghiogheny and Potomac waters west of Altamont. - -[12] Ryan's Glade No. 10, Garrett County. - -[13] This point is pretty definitely determined in the Journal. We are -told that the mouth of Stony River (now Stony Creek) was four miles -below McCulloch's crossing. This would locate the latter near the -present site of Fort Pendleton, Garrett County, Maryland, the point -where the old Northwestern Turnpike crossed the North Branch. - -[14] Greeland Gap, Grant County, West Virginia. - -[15] Knobby Mountain. - -[16] Near Moorefield, Hardy County, West Virginia. - -[17] Mt. Storm, Grant County. The Old Northwestern Turnpike bears -northeast from here to Claysville, Burlington and Romney. Washington's -route was southwest along the line of the present road to Moorefield. -Evidently the buffalo trace bore southwest on the watershed between -Stony River and Abraham's Creek--White's _West Virginia Atlas_ (1873), -p. 26. Bradley's _Map of United States_ (1804) shows a road from -Morgantown to Romney; also a "Western Fort" at the crossing-place of the -Youghiogheny. - -[18] Dunkard's Bottom, in Portland Township, Preston County, West -Virginia, was settled about 1755 by Dr. Thomas Eckarly and brothers who -traversed the old path to Fort Pleasant on South Branch.--Thwaites's -edition of Withers's _Chronicles of Border Warfare_ (1895), pp. 75-76. - -[19] _Laws of Virginia_ (1826-1827), pp. 85-87. - -[20] _Laws of Virginia_ (1831), pp. 153-158; _Journal of the Senate ... -of Virginia_ (1830-31), p. 165. - -[21] See _Historic Highways of America_, vol. ix, pp. 60-64. - -[22] _Journal of Thomas Wallcutt in 1790_, edited by George Dexter -(_Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society_, October, 1879). - -[23] The Journal begins at the Ohio Company's settlement at Marietta, -Ohio. - -[24] They crossed the Ohio River to the present site of Williamstown, -West Virginia, named from the brave and good pioneer Isaac Williams. - -[25] The Monongahela Trail; see _Historic Highways of America_, vol. ii, -pp. 122-124. - -[26] For an early (1826) map of this region that is reasonably correct, -see Herman Boeye's _Map of Virginia_ in Massachusetts Historical Society -Library. - -[27] Near Friendsville, Maryland--named in honor of the old pioneer -family; see note 10, _ante_; cf. Corey's map of Virginia in his -_American Atlas_ (1805), 3d edition; also Samuel Lewis's _Map of -Virginia_ (1794). - -[28] Bellville was the earlier Flinn's Station, Virginia.--S. P. -Hildreth's _Pioneer History_, p. 148. - -[29] The author has, for several years, been looking for an explanation -of this interesting obituary; "broadaggs" is, clearly, a corruption of -"Braddock's." Of "atherwayes" no information is at hand; it was probably -the name of a woodsman who settled here--for "bear camplain" undoubtedly -means a "bare _campagne_," or clearing. The word _campagne_ was a common -one among American pioneers. Cf. Harris's _Tour_, p. 60. A spot halfway -between Cumberland and Uniontown would be very near the point where the -road crossed the Pennsylvania state-line. - -[30] A reminiscent letter written in 1842 for the _American Pioneer_ -(vol. i, pp. 73-75). - -[31] _Historic Highways of America_, vol. vii, pp. 139-148. - -[32] _Historic Highways of America_, vol. ii, pp. 76-85. - -[33] The Iroquois Trail likewise left the river valley at this spot. - -[34] _Laws of New York_, 1794, ch. XXIX. - -[35] _Laws of New York_, 1796, ch. XXVI. - -[36] _Id._, ch. XXXIX. - -[37] _Laws of New York_, 1797, ch. LX. - -[38] _Laws of New York_, 1798, ch. XXVI. - -[39] _Laws of New York_, 1797-1800, ch. LXXVIII. - -[40] Boston, 1876, pp. 11-53. - -[41] Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, 1901. - -[41a] This name long since was abandoned. On the opposite side of the -river, however, a new settlement grew up under the name of Unadilla, the -beginnings of which date about 1790. See the same author's "The Pioneers -of Unadilla Village" (Unadilla, 1902).--HALSEY. - -[42] State Land Papers.--HALSEY. - -[43] Sluman Wattles's Account Book.--HALSEY. - -[44] Dr. Dwight's figures are for the township, not for the village, -which was then a mere frontier hamlet, of perhaps one hundred -souls.--HALSEY. - -[45] "Reminiscences of Village Life and of Panama and California from -1840 to 1850," by Gains Leonard Halsey, M. D. Published at -Unadilla.--HALSEY. - -[46] A stage line, however, for long years afterward supplied these -settlements with a means of communication with Unadilla, and it is -within the memory of many persons still calling themselves young that -for a considerable series of years, trips twice a week were regularly -made by Henry S. Woodruff. After Mr. Woodruff's death a large and -interesting collection of coaches, sleighs, and other stage relics -remained upon his premises--the last survival of coaching times on the -Catskill Turnpike, embracing a period of three-quarters of a -century.--HALSEY. - -[47] See _Historic Highways of America_, vol. xi, p. 199, _note_. - -[48] _Travels in North America_ (London, 1839), vol. ii, pp. 29-48. - - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. - -2. Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have been corrected. - -3. Footnotes have been moved to the end of the main text body. - -4. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest -paragraph break. - -5. 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